Maximum Ride: School Days
by Dani the Witch
Summary: It's the first day of school for eleven-year-old Maximum Ride and the rest of her flock. Despite Max's protests, Jeb has enrolled them in school, hoping for them to experience life as normal kids. However, Max isn't exactly an average fifth-grader - which always ends up getting her and the flock in a huge mess of trouble.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Jeb! I don't wanna go!" I complained, crossing my arms over my chest. "You can't make us! I'm the leader!"

He sighed, shaking his head. "Max, I thought going to school would be a good idea. You can meet other children your age and learn new things."

"No way! No school for me!" I declared. Jeb wanted me, Fang, and Iggy to go to fifth grade and see what other fifth graders did, but that wasn't fun. Flying all day and exploring? Now that was fun!

Jeb put a hand on my shoulder. "Max, you're eleven years old. You need to learn how to fit in, too."

I frowned. "Why? Can't we just stay here? We're safe here with you." Jeb was our teacher already – he'd taught us everything we knew. He was like a dad to me.

"You are already enrolled in a local school" was his response.

"UGH!" I yelled, running to my room and slamming the door.

~~::~~

Two days later, I stood in front of our new classroom and watched as Jeb walked down the hall with Nudge and Gazzy in tow, little Angel in his arms. Nudge had been talking about going to second grade endlessly. "I get to meet other kids, and I bet we get to play fun games, and I'm going to have so much fun, and…" Blah, blah, blah. Gazzy was going to be in kindergarten, but Angel wasn't old enough for school yet.

"Bye, kids! Be good!" Jeb called cheerfully. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Yeah, right."

Fang looked at me. "So what now?"

That was when some lady walked up to us. "Hello, you must be my new students! I am Mrs. Jenkins!" She beamed at me, holding out a hand. None of us took it. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"What are your names?" she ventured, slowly pulling her hand back. I guess we didn't have the best manners.

"I'm Max," I blurted out.

"I'm F-Nick," Fang told her, and I snickered. "Fnick?"

"Shut up," he whispered.

"I'm Jeff," Iggy offered, his sightless eyes fixed on a spot slightly above her head. Close enough.

"Yes, you must be the blind child," Mrs. Jenkins said. Iggy's face turned red, and I glared at Mrs. Jenkins.

"You shouldn't talk to him like that," I told her. "I bet Iggy could beat you up-"

I stopped though, because Fang was giving me a look that said, _Shut up before you say too much._ I closed my mouth and looked back at Mrs. Jenkins.

"Riiight," she said, glancing at me strangely. "Well, let's go." Mrs. Jenkins led us into the classroom. Fang and I looked around at everything, and I started to describe it to Iggy.

"There's posters on the wall – like, projects that people must have done. Stuff about states and America and science. And there's desks. There's a chalkboard in the front, and lots of books everywhere. And there's one door, right behind us. That's our escape route, just in case." I said the last part in a whisper, as Iggy nodded.

"You'll sit here," Mrs. Jenkins interrupted us, pointing to three desks right in the front. I groaned. "Why do we have to sit in the front?"

She ignored my question and sat down at her desk, looking through papers. I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning.

Other kids started to trickle in slowly. They all looked at us like we were weird – well, we were, but they didn't know about the wings. I guess it wasn't every day their class got three new kids.

The bell rang, and I practically dragged Iggy to our seats in the front. "Ow!" he shouted as he ran into another desk. I winced. "Sorry, Ig – I mean, Jeff."

Mrs. Jenkins glared at us. "We do not shout in the classroom."

"Sorry," Iggy and I said at the same time, sitting down. Fang gave me a look – he was already sitting down. I made a face at him, and he laughed.

"Max," our teacher said, "pay attention."

"You weren't even talking," I protested, and some kids laughed. Mrs. Jenkins didn't.

"We do not talk back to our teachers, Max," she continued, then turned her attention to the class. "Class, these are our new students – Max, Nick, and Jeff."

A couple kids waved. One kid said, "Hi," in a bored voice. I frowned. There was something wrong here. Jeb said school would be fun – he was wrong as usual. Not like I had believed him, though.

"Now, who can remember what we talked about yesterday?" Mrs. Jenkins asked, looking at the class.

She received complete silence – was that supposed to happen? Then one kid stuck his hand in the air. I just stared at him. Why did he do that?

"Yes, Ryan?" Mrs. Jenkins said. The kid lowered his hand, then said, "The Boston Tea Party?"

"Very good," she responded. "Now, who-"

"Why are we learning about tea parties?" I interrupted. "I mean, not to offend anyone, but tea parties are for little kids. Angel – I mean, my….sister has them all the time with her stuffed animals."

A whole bunch of kids started laughing. Iggy was one of them. Fang managed a small smirk.

Mrs. Jenkins was now red in the face. "Max, if you'd like to interrupt again, then perhaps I can send you to the principal."

I shook my head. "No thanks. Does he like tea parties too?"

Ten minutes later, I was sitting in the office. "Maxine Ride?" a lady sitting at a desk said. "The principal can see you now."

"It's just Max," I grumbled as I headed into the principal's office.

"Miss Ride? Yes, come in," the principal said. He was an older man with white hair and lots of wrinkles, but he didn't look as mean as Mrs. Jenkins. In fact….was he smiling?

I stared at him. "Sit down, please," he continued. I did – the chairs were surprisingly comfortable.

"I understand you got in an argument with your teacher about the Boston Tea Party?" he asked, a hint of a smile on his face. I nodded, noticing that the plaque on his desk said Mr. Robin.

"Yeah, Mr. Principal. She wanted to talk about tea, but I didn't see why that was important. So I said something."

Mr. Robin laughed. "Max, the Boston Tea Party was an important historical event. Tea was thrown into the Boston harbor as a protest to the British by the colonists."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. Of course I hadn't known about some old history thing. Then I said, "I don't think Mrs. Jenkins likes me."

He laughed again. "Why so?"

"Because….because she sent me to you! She just wanted to be rude to me," I told him, frowning.

Mr. Robin smiled. "She just wants the best for you. So do I. I want every student to succeed." He nodded at me. "Remember, the principal is your pal."

I decided that was the cheesiest thing I'd heard all day. For all I knew, my new "pal" was a whitecoat. "Thanks," I said, a little reluctantly.

Mr. Robin sent me back to my class, but not before giving me a lollipop. "Have a nice day, Max!" he told me.

"Alright," I responded. At least I got candy out of that.

I walked back into my class and sat down in my seat, between Iggy and Fang. Mrs. Jenkins frowned.

Fang looked at my lollipop. "How'd you get that?"

I just grinned at him as I licked my lollipop. Maybe school wouldn't be so bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As soon as the bell rang for recess, Fang, Iggy, and I practically ran out of the classroom. Well, we ran until Iggy smashed right into a first grader, who started yelling at him.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Iggy apologized, as Fang and I ran up to him and pulled him outside.

"Fifth grade isn't too bad so far," I said, looking around. There were kids everywhere – boys playing basketball, little kids playing with jump-ropes, and other kids just standing there talking.

"Sure," was Fang's response as he rolled his eyes.

"Our teacher hates us!" Iggy complained. "She gave us homework!"

I was about to agree with him when two kids came up to us. I looked at them warily – were they going to turn into Erasers or try to kill us or something?

Apparently not. "Hi," the girl said, smiling. "You guys are new, right?" She held out her hand. "I'm Jasmine, but everyone calls me Jaz."

I looked at her hand, then back at her. The boy standing next to her laughed. "She doesn't bite," he said. "I'm Matt, by the way."

I frowned. Well, maybe they weren't Erasers. "I'm Max," I replied, still not shaking Jaz's hand. She pulled her hand in quickly and smiled again. Dang, she liked smiling.

"I know who you are, silly! Mrs. Jenkins was yelling at you practically the entire time."

"Right," I said, rolling my eyes. "Glad you noticed."

"I'm Jeff," Iggy told her. "And this is Fnick."

"My name is Nick," Fang said through gritted teeth.

That Jaz girl just smiled again. "Hi, Jeff! Hi, Fnick!"

We all laughed. Except for Fnick.

~~::~~

"Okay, class," Mrs. Jenkins said, clapping her hands, "now we are going to dissect a frog." Half of the class groaned. Jaz cheered. I got the idea that that girl was way too optimistic.

"We have been preparing for this, as you remember," she continued, "and I will assign you partners."

I looked at Fang, then at Iggy. Assigned partners? That wasn't fair.

Mrs. Jenkins started reading off names. "Ryan and Matt, Nick and Jeff…." I pretty much tuned her out until I heard, "Maxine and Jasmine."

"It's just Max," I grumbled. Apparently, this lady didn't understand that my name was Max.

"Hi!" Jaz said, skipping over to me as Mrs. Jenkins started setting up supplies. "We're partners! Isn't that great?"

"If you say so," I muttered, with a shrug. I glanced over at Fang and Iggy – at least they got to be partners.

"This is so exciting," Jaz continued babbling as Mrs. Jenkins put a dead frog in front of us. I frowned. Why did we have to dissect things anyway? The last thing I wanted to do was feel like a whitecoat.

"And then I told her that she couldn't come to my birthday party and she got really mad at me, but we're still friends so it's okay!" Jaz continued to blab. I guess she didn't realize I was tuning her out. Finally she said, "Right, Max?"

"What?" I snapped.

Jaz shrunk back in her seat. "Never mind…."

I sighed. I was really bad at this 'fitting in and making new friends' thing, as Jeb had described it.

For the next half hour or so, I basically just focused on Jaz's instructions –seems she was really good at science – until she said, "So, is Fnick your boyfriend?"

"What?" I asked, turning red. "No way! He's…he's my brother!"

"Right," Jaz said, a hint of doubt in her voice. I guess my having blonde hair and brown eyes didn't exactly make me look like Fang's sister – especially since he had dark hair and olive skin.

"He's kinda cute, you know," Jaz said, smiling real big.

I made an 'ew' face at her. "He's my brother, stupid. I don't exactly care if he's cute."

Jaz peered at my face. "You're turning red." She frowned like she was thinking, then smiled again. "He's not really your brother, is he?"

"Shut it!" I yelled, slamming my hand over her mouth. Jaz, in turn, licked my hand.

"HEY!" I shouted, then lowered my voice because Mrs. Jenkins was giving me the evil eye again. "I mean, hey. You can't talk like that. Of course he's my brother."

"But not….your related brother," Jaz finished, a triumphant smirk on her face.

I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest. "Fine, whatever. He's my….adopted brother. But what do you care?"

"You liiiike him," Jaz teased.

"No, I don't!" I insisted, but my face was still really hot.

Jaz just did that really big smile again. "Well, he's cute. Do you think he'd want to be my boyfriend?"

~~::~~

Well, the day pretty much went downhill from there.

Jaz insisted on being Fang's 'tour guide' and showed him all around the school. She even got to sit next to him! Then at lunch, she stuck herself right in between me and Fang at our table. I gave up and went to sit on the other side of the table with Iggy, who was talking to Matt about explosions.

I kept telling myself, It's okay, she just wants to be our friend. But she really seemed like she only wanted to be Fang's friend.

At the end of the day, we got on the bus to go home – Jeb said that we weren't allowed to fly home. Nudge sat next to me and started blabbing about her day in second grade and telling me about how they watched the Magic School Bus and worked on spelling and writing.

Gazzy happily sat next to Iggy and talked about how excited he was to dissect a frog once he got to fifth grade.

And guess who sat next to Fang?

That's right – Jaz.

"Did you know that my favorite show is American Idol?" she was telling him. "I watch it every time it's on, and I love all the singers! Even the bad ones! Do you watch that show?"

"Yeah," Fang said, giving a typical Fang one-word answer.

"Oh my gosh! Really? That is so cool! You should come over to my house and we can watch it together!"

"Uggggh," I muttered, pressing my face against the window. "Kill me now."

"What's wrong?" Nudge asked.

I looked back at her, managing a smile. "It's nothing, don't worry. I think the 'being a scientist' thing kind of got to me."

Nudge made a face. "Frogs, yuck!"

I laughed. "Yeah."

Finally, the bus got to our stop and we got off – I was relieved to get away from Jaz.

Then that Jaz girl stuck her head out the window and started waving. "Bye guys!"

I managed a wave, mentally rolling my eyes.

Then she looked at Fang and blew a kiss. "I love you, Fnick!"

Nudge and I looked at each other in surprise. Iggy's face showed confusion. Fang just looked oblivious.

She didn't really just say that…

Did she?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Jeb! We're home!" I called as we walked in the door.

"How was your first day of school?" he called, popping his head out from his office.

"Fang got a girlfriend!" Nudge blurted. I groaned.

"No, I don't," Fang replied, frowning. "I'm only eleven."

"She said she loves you," Iggy teased, a smirk on his face. This caused Fang to go red. "I don't know what you're talking about," was his response.

Jeb just shook his head. "Well, I have some juice and crackers in the kitchen. I'm sure you're hungry."

"Yeah, we are," Gazzy agreed. "Those school lunches are barely big enough to be snacks!" Everyone laughed, and I was glad that the subject had changed from Fang's love life. At least for now.

Angel toddled into the kitchen and I picked her up, smiling. "Hey, Angel! Did you miss us too much?"

The little girl just looked deep into my eyes and said, "Your teacher's really mean."

I stared at her, then looked at Jeb. "I – I didn't tell her that! How did she know that?"

Jeb looked at the two of us solemnly. "It seems Angel has an additional power." He paused.

"Which is…what?" I asked impatiently.

"She can read minds," Jeb told me.

"What?" Gazzy cried. "Well, maybe I can do it too!" He looked at me. "Think of a number!"

I rolled my eyes. "Ask someone else."

"Okay, I'll ask Nudge!" Gazzy looked at Nudge. "Is it seven?"

Nudge shook her head. "No! Not even close!"

Gazzy looked dismayed. "No, not even close!" he mimicked her – but in a perfect imitation of Nudge's voice. It literally sounded like Nudge's voice was coming out of his mouth.

We all stared at him. Even Gazzy looked shocked.

"So…." Iggy trailed off. "Another new power?"

Jeb nodded. Gazzy grinned. "Awesome!" He looked at me. "Hi, I'm Max and I command you to bow down to my leader-ness!" he exclaimed, but in my voice. My jaw dropped, then I lunged at him. "Hey!" I yelled as he cracked up.

Then I had an idea. A crazy, amazing idea.

~~::~~

"Are you sure this is the right phone number?" Iggy whispered as I dialed the phone. I nodded. "Yeah. She practically wrote it all over Fang's notebook."

"Alright," Gazzy said. "I'm ready."

We held our breath as the phone rang. And rang. And rang. Nudge was keeping watch outside of my room – anyone who wanted to come in would be stopped, thanks to her blabbing.

Finally, the phone went to voice mail. "Hi! This is Jaz! You've reached my phone, but I can't come to the phone right now because I'm probably off doing something else! I hope you'll leave a message so I can call you back later, but don't forget to leave your name and number so I can call you back!" The phone beeped.

"Hey, this is Nick," Gazzy said in Fang's voice. "Sorry, but I don't feel the same way about you. I hope you don't talk to me ever, ever, ever again." Then he hung up.

I facepalmed. I hadn't told Gazzy to say that last part, but whatever.

"Yeah! I am a genius!" Gazzy yelled. "High five!"

Iggy tried to give him a high five and hit me instead. "I need to practice that," he explained.

I rolled my eyes, debating whether or not to tell Gazzy that I was the one that came up with the plan in the first place.

Oh well. I grinned, just thinking about our plan. I couldn't wait to see how well it turned out.

~~::~~

The next day at school, I was sitting in my desk next to Iggy, watching to see when Jaz would come in.

"Is she here yet?" Iggy asked anxiously. I frowned.

"Like I told you thirty seconds ago. No."

Finally, the dark-haired girl came into the room. I expected her to be crying, or at least look a little sad.

Instead, her smile, if possible, was even bigger than the day before. She ran right for Fang, almost plowing into him.

"Hi!" she said, grinning. "That call I got yesterday? So funny! That was the best prank call ever…totally made my day!"

Fang just looked really confused. "Uh….no problem?"

Jaz turned and waved to me and Iggy. "Hi, Max! Hi, Jeff!"

"Hi there," I said in a monotone voice, ready to punch that girl. Why was she so dang happy all the time? Maybe she just wasn't right in the head.

Iggy exchanged a glance with me – well, kind of, if blind kids can exchange glances.

"This was not part of the plan," I muttered.

~~::~~

Later that day, we had P.E., which made me feel a whole lot better. Coach Thompson was apparently a huge fan of dodgeball – he told us so himself.

So of course, that was what we ended up playing. Jaz and some other kid named Ryan were team captains – of course, Jaz picked Fang. She didn't seem to want us on her team, though. Ryan picked me third… I convinced him to take Iggy, though he didn't look very happy about it.

"I hate this game," Iggy complained as a ball hit him –he was the first to get out.

I was pretty good at it, though – I was stronger and faster than the average fifth-grader, and definitely able to dodge things.

Fang, on the other team, was hurling dodgeballs as fast as he could. Jaz was just hiding behind him, using him as a human shield.

I shook my head. Pathetic.

"Max! Look out!" Matt – also on my team – called, right before a ball slammed into my chest, sending me to the ground. I glared at the other team's side. Fang had been the one to throw that ball.

Of course, after that game ended, Coach made us run. Turned out Jaz was a good runner though – not as good as me, of course.

"Take your time!" Coach Thompson yelled as the two of us ran, Jaz struggling to keep up.

"I'm….gonna….win!" Jaz panted.

"No!" I yelled, then started running even faster. Before I knew it, she was way behind me. I grinned triumphantly as I finished running. She could never be better than me at that. I'd barely broken a sweat.

Jaz caught up to me sometime later, Fang at her side. He ran slower, just for her. "How….can you…run that fast?" she panted, still out of breath.

I smirked. "Let's just say I've had a lot of training."

Jaz smiled real big again. "Then maybe you can teach me something!" She looked at Fang. "Can I come over to your house today? Please?"

Fang nodded at the same time I shook my head. "No!" I said.

"Sure," Fang cut me off.

My fists clenched, but I tried to keep myself from yelling at him. "F-Nick, since when do you make the calls? I'm the leader!"

"Leader of what?" Jaz asked, looking very interested. I frowned. She could never, ever find out about the flock.

"Leader of the Rainbow Pony Club," Iggy responded, popping up behind us. He'd stuck with Matt when we had to run.

"Really?" Jaz smiled. "That sounds like fun! Can I join?"

I groaned, smacking my forehead with my hand. If this girl was coming over, it was going to be a long day….


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

When the bell rang later that day, I grabbed Fang and Iggy and practically dragged them out the door. Maybe if we ran, we could get on the bus and avoid Jaz.

"Hi, Max!" Nudge said, walking towards us with Gazzy in tow. "How was your second day of fifth grade? Was it-"

"Nudge, move it!" I yelled at her. "Get on the bus!"

She ran after us, glancing around anxiously. "Why? What's going on?"

"We're ditching Jaz," I hissed.

"We are?" Fang asked in surprise.

I glared at him. "You didn't hear that, lover boy."

His mouth opened, probably to object, but that was when – guess who? – Jaz walked onto the bus.

"Hi, Fnick!" she said, smiling and plopping down next to him – where I was going to sit. "Max runs really fast, doesn't she?"

"I guess," Fang responded.

"Ugh," I muttered, slumping into the seat next to Iggy. He frowned. "What? I'm not that bad!"

I rolled my eyes, then realized he couldn't see it. "Rolling my eyes, Ig. You know why I'm mad."

"No, I don't," he said, and went back to fiddling with the zipper on his backpack.

"Max is jealoooousss!" Nudge said in a sing-song voice, her head popping up from the seat in front of us.

My face started heating up.

"No, I'm not," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. "Jaz is just really annoying. I don't want her to come over."

"Sure," Iggy said with a smirk. I punched his arm. "Ig! You know how annoying that girl is!"

Unfortunately, that didn't keep Nudge and Gazzy from giggling. I sighed. Was this day over yet?

~~::~~

"You must be Jaz," Jeb said, smiling at the dark-haired girl. "I've heard some things about you."

"He's heard from me that she's annoying," I murmured to Iggy, who laughed.

"Let's go outside!" Nudge said as we ate our snack – Oreos and milk. "We can play tag and go fly-" Nudge realized that we had an…an outsider here and shoved an Oreo in her mouth.

Luckily, Jaz didn't catch that. "Fly a kite, you mean? I love flying kites!"

I breathed a sigh of relief – at least Nudge hadn't let our secret slip.

We ran outside, and I breathed in the fresh air. I loved being outside, especially after a long day at our stupid school. My wings were still pulled tight against my back, and although I wanted to let them out and just fly around for hours, I knew we couldn't.

Angel sat down in a patch of flowers. "Help me make daisy chains!" she said, and I smiled.

"Sure," I responded, kneeling down to help her.

"Tag! You're it!" Gazzy screamed, running up behind me and slapping me.

"Hey!" I yelled, running after him. "You're so dead!"

"No tag backs!" he teased, grinning.

I whirled and found Nudge standing behind me. She screamed, then laughed and ran away. I caught up and tagged her, then zoomed away, behind a clump of trees.

"Oh! Max….hi," Jaz said. I looked up in surprise – what was she doing behind here, anyway?

"We're not playing hide and seek, you know," I told her with a smirk.

She turned a bright red color. "Oh! I know….I was just…checking my phone."

"Right," I said, rolling my eyes. "Now are you going to play tag with us or not?"

As if on cue, Nudge ran and tagged Jaz. Then she stopped and looked back and forth between the two of us and smiled.

"Jaz, did you know that Max likes F-Nick?"

For a second I just stared at her in horror. Then I screamed, "Nudge, you liar!" and ran at her.

"Max, you're not even it!" Nudge screamed as she ran from me.

"You're gonna get it!" I yelled at her.

"Are they…okay?" I heard Jaz ask Iggy.

He responded with, "This is considered normal at our house."

Suddenly Nudge stopped, and I ran right into her. "Nudge, you can't just do that!"

Nudge was staring straight ahead. When I did the same, I saw something terrible – something that had given me nightmares ever since we'd escaped from the School.

He wasn't all animal, or all man – he was more like a combination of the two. Half wolf, half human, with a grin that showed all of his sharp teeth.

"E-Eraser," Nudge whimpered, and I yanked her behind me.

The rest of the flock stood behind me, frozen. My fists clenched. I had to protect them. I even had to protect Jaz.

Then the wolf man lunged at me.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

From behind me, I heard Angel scream. Then the Eraser was right in front of me.

"Go away, unless you want to get hurt," I said, my fists clenched, my voice steady. He raised his head and laughed. "You think you can take me down? A little girl like you?"

Jeb had trained me – trained all of us to fight, in case something like this had ever happened. I smiled. "That's right."

Then before he had any time to do anything, to even move, I kicked him in the stomach. Surprised, he staggered backwards, then surged forward again. "Okay, little girl. I was just getting ready," he said with a smile on his face, although the smile was ten times creepier because he had a half wolf, half human face.

"I'm not a little girl! I am Maximum Ride!" I shouted, jabbing my fist where his ribs would be. I heard something crack and kept punching him, not giving him a chance to fight back until-

His hand swept upward, his claws raking across my face. I sucked in my breath – it hurt really badly, and I knew blood was streaming down my face, but I didn't stop. Realizing the flock was still frozen in horror behind me, I yelled to Fang, "Take everyone to a safe place! Inside!"

"But-" he started to object, but I cut him off as I continued to fight the Eraser.

"I'll be okay! Go!"

Then they were gone. I didn't see any other Erasers – maybe if I just ran, I could escape this one.

No. I was brave – I didn't run from anything!

Then the Eraser leaped onto me, pinning me to the ground. "It looks like this is the end for you, Maximum Ride," he said, a delighted smile on his face. His teeth gleamed as he leaned closer, probably ready to rip out my throat. I struggled to get up, but it was hopeless. "It will be a pleasure to kill you."

"I don't think so," a voice interrupted, and then something metal came down on the Eraser's head and knocked him out. He fell, and I rolled out from under him.

"You can thank me now," Fang said, a slight smirk on his face and a metal baseball bat in one hand. He held out the other hand to me to help me up.

"Fang, you were supposed to-"

"Take the kids inside? I saved your life, Invincible Maximum Ride," he said. That was probably the most he'd said all day.

"Right," I said. "Thanks." As soon as I stood up, I felt a little dizzy. I must have been losing a lot of blood from the Eraser attack. Fang pulled a knife out of his pocket and kneeled down, slitting the Eraser's throat.

"He's dead now-" Fang stood up and looked at my face. "Oh. Come on." He put his arm around me, helping me inside.

"Max! Are you okay?" Nudge asked, running over to me. "You don't look good! We need Band-Aids! Someone get Band-Aids!"

"Right here! Right here!" Gazzy yelled, running into the room with Disney Princess Band-Aids.

That was when Jeb walked in the front door, home from the grocery store. When he saw my bloody face and various other injuries, the grocery bags slipped out of his arms and hit the floor.

"Oh my god," he said, rushing over. "Max, what happened?"

"Eraser attack," Fang said. Nudge added, "Max was really brave but she got hurt!"

Jeb's face hardened. "Erasers? Here?"

"Just one," I interrupted. Jeb turned to face me.

"That's still very serious. They know where we are. How did they find you?" he asked as he took care of my injuries, disinfecting them and putting on bandages. I winced at the sting.

"Well, I'm really not sure," I started to say. "One minute I was talking to Jaz and the next I was…." I trailed off, then looked at Fang. "Jaz. Where's Jaz?"

"What about Jaz?" Gazzy asked, but Fang had realized it too.

"Jaz is a traitor," I explained. "She's working with the School."

~~::~~

Jaz wasn't at school the next day. Matt, who was one of her best friends, said he had no idea what happened to her. "She won't pick up her phone, and she wasn't home. I haven't seen her."

"This is bad," I muttered as I sat at my desk next to Fang. "She knows where we are. They're probably sending more Erasers as we speak. This is not good."

"Thanks, we get it," Iggy said, rolling his sightless eyes.

Kids stopped to ask me what was wrong with my face. I didn't really have an explanation. Fang told them that it was an accident.

By lunch, I was on the edge of my seat, expecting the walls of the cafeteria to bust open and Erasers to start pouring in. In the year or so we'd been living with Jeb, there had been no Eraser attacks.

We had thought we were safe.

But then Jaz came, and obviously ruined that.

"Max," Nudge said, coming up to our table and sitting down next to me, "I'm scared. And really worried." She wrapped her arms around me and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I know," I said, sighing. "I'm worried too. But we'll survive, right? We always do."

"Max, what if we have to leave?" Gazzy asked. "I don't want to leave! I like it here!"

I frowned, about to reply, when all of a sudden, I saw a girl come in, all the way across the cafeteria. My sharp vision picked out Jaz's features.

My fists clenched. It was Jaz. She'd put my whole flock, my family in danger, and now she was going to pay.

Jaz started walking in our direction, then realized that we were over here. She quickly turned and started walking the direction she had come.

"Oh, no you're not," I muttered, leaping up from the table.

I caught up to Jaz when she was practically running down a deserted hallway. I grabbed her shoulder, turning her around to face me.

"You know, I never liked you, even before I knew you were a traitor," I told her, my voice steely.

All the color drained out of her face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, yes. I think you do," I hissed, my grip tightening on her shoulder.

That was when she broke down. Tears started streaming down her face. She was sobbing so loud I thought Mrs. Jenkins was going to run up to us and say, "We don't cry loudly in the fifth grade!"

"Hey. Hey, stop it!" I demanded. She looked up at me, wiping her eyes.

"You don't understand," she sobbed. "I didn't want to- I mean, I-"

"You knew about us," I murmured, leaning in closer to her. "You know about the School and the Erasers and….us."

"That wasn't until after I met you!" she continued. "I didn't realize they'd hurt you!"

"What?" I released my grip on her shoulder. "What are you talking about?"

"The day you came to our school," Jaz started. "Last week. This guy came up to me and gave me his number. He told me to call him when I got you guys alone."

"And you did it?" I asked, my jaw dropping. "Why?"

"I didn't know he wanted to hurt you!" Jaz protested. "And he said he'd kill my family if I didn't," she continued, starting to sob again. "And last night, someone broke into our house. They ….they tried to kill my sister," Jaz sobbed. "And he left a message saying that I'd failed my job."

Crap. I'd called her a traitor when she'd just been blackmailed into doing something…. I wasn't sure if this still made her a traitor or not.

I frowned. "I'm…sorry. Sorry for being a jerk to you. I'll make it up to you somehow."

Jaz thought for a second, and then a hint of a smile appeared on her face. "Can I come over again today?"

For some strange reason, I said yes. As the bell rang and we headed back to class, I thought, _I am really going to regret this._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Now, I promise you that Jaz was definitely not on my best friends list or anything. In fact, I didn't even consider her a friend. And the fact that she knew about, well, us now made me even more wary of her. For all I knew, she'd turn around and start blabbing our secrets to the entire fifth grade.

In other words, my feelings about her hadn't changed.

"So, Fang," Jaz said, leaning against his desk, "I'm coming over to your house again."

"My name's Nick," Fang told her, but she obviously didn't believe him anymore.

"I heard Max call you Fang," Jaz whispered, smiling. "And I bet Jeff's real name isn't Jeff."

"You're right," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's actually KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS!"

"Max, we do not yell in the fifth grade," Mrs. Jenkins reprimanded me with a disapproving look.

"Hmph," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest and sitting down as the bell rang.

"So…Jaz knows about us now?" Iggy whispered, leaning over to me.

"Yeah," I whispered back. "She's so annoying."

"Max, Jeff, do you have something to share with the class?" Mrs. Jenkins asked. Somehow, she'd popped up right in front of us.

"Uh….nope," I responded, sitting up straighter.

"Well, in that case, would you like to repeat to the class what I just said?" she continued.

"Nope, I'm fine," I replied, smirking. A few kids started laughing, but tried to hide it.

One of her eyebrows twitched. "Maxine Ride, do you enjoy mocking me?"

I opted not to correct her. "Yeah. You and every other adult I meet."

That was how I found myself sitting in Mr. Robin's office for the second time this week.

"Well, Max, I believe we're going to know each other very well by the end of this school year, hm?" he asked, looking through my file. I didn't even know I had a file….what was in it, anyway? Hate mail about me from Mrs. Jenkins?

I just stared at him. "Can I have a new teacher?"

He began laughing, and I glared at him. "It wasn't meant to be funny."

"Mrs. Jenkins is a perfectly good teacher. I've worked with her for a long time. Did you know I used to be a fifth grade teacher?"

I looked at him. "How long have you been a principal? You're kind of old."

He laughed, and this time, I laughed too. Not because I was getting along with him. It was because I called him old and he didn't even object to that.

After a short lecture on respecting Mrs. Jenkins – which I mostly tuned out, blah blah blah – he sent me back to my class with a lollipop in each hand. I'd asked for one for Iggy.

"How did you get those?" Fang asked, as Iggy and I grinned at him.

"Nick, do you have something to share with the class?" Mrs. Jenkins asked, turning to face him.

I smirked, and whispered, "That's how."

~~::~~

At the end of the day, a girl named Daisy ran up to us with a stack of papers in her hand. "Hi! I was wondering if you wanted to come to my birthday party?" she asked, smiling as she handed each of us an invitation. "It's supposed to be formal, so you guys should wear ties and stuff. And Max, you can wear a dress! I hope you'll come!" She beamed at us and ran away.

I glanced down at my dirty jeans and T-shirt. Needless to say, fancy dresses weren't my style.

Iggy grinned. "We should go. I bet it'll be fun."

"Yeah," I said, rolling my eyes. "About as fun as getting attacked by Erasers."

"Hi, Fnick!" Jaz yelled, running over to us. "Hey, I know why Max called you Fnick now! Because your real name is Fang, but you go by Nick and-"

She got cut off because I slapped my hand over her mouth. "Shut up, unless you want me to kill you," I hissed.

She just smiled at me after I took my hand away. "Okay! Don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" Jaz promised, her smile huger than ever.

"I'm so sure," I muttered as we got on the bus, me holding Gazzy's hand and nudging Nudge (ha!) towards the back of the bus. Jaz yanked Fang into the seat in the front.

"Is Jaz coming over again today?" Nudge asked, smiling and looking towards the front of the bus as it started up and pulled away from school. "I just hope nothing bad happens today!"

"Yeah, about that," I muttered, motioning for Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge to come in closer. Quickly, I filled them in about Jaz.

"Oh my gosh," Nudge said. "I mean, I know you said she was a traitor, but she was forced to do it! That's terrible! I can't believe someone would make her do it!"

"That's really mean," Gazzy agreed.

"Yeah, well, she's still as annoying as ever," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "Obviously, nothing has changed. But back to the point. Keep an eye out. If you see anything suspicious, tell me."

Gazzy and Nudge nodded. Iggy replied with, "Well, I know I won't be seeing anything suspicious," as he waved his hand in front of his eyes.

"You know what I meant!" I told him, laughing as I punched his arm.

~~::~~

"Jaz…what a pleasant surprise!" Jeb said with a smile on his face. An obvious fake smile, I might add. I pulled him aside and explained about Jaz while everyone else ate their snack. Jeb listened with a concerned expression on his face.

"Well, that explains that. Max, I do want you to be careful. If anything else happens, we're going to leave here. I can't have the School knowing where you are. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Yeah, yeah, whatever! Okay, bye!" I ran into the kitchen to join the others, where Jaz and Nudge were having a very heated discussion over which kind of nail polish was better.

"I say bright pink," Nudge – who was going through a hot-pink phase at the moment – told her.

Jaz frowned. "Really? I'd go with a lighter shade. Or maybe darker."

"My ears are bleeding!" Iggy yelled at the two of them.

Jax turned to look at me. "Max, what do you think?"

"Until nail polish helps me kick someone's butt, I really don't care," I responded, crossing my arms over my chest. Iggy and Gazzy laughed, and even Fang smirked.

I walked over and picked up Angel, who was finishing off her Goldfish crackers. "Who wants to go outside?"

Four bird-kid hands shot up into the air. Jaz grinned. "Yeah! Let's go!" Fang didn't raise his hand, but he nodded in agreement.

As we headed outside, I gave her a look that said, No more calling Erasers. Okay?

"What now?" Gazzy asked. "I don't wanna play tag or anything."

Jaz smiled (as usual) but her smile was possibly the biggest I'd ever seen it. "Is it true you guys can fly?"

"What?" I asked, staring at her. "Who told you that?" I'd already suspected she'd known about our bird DNA, though….my suspicions were basically confirmed.

"The guy. He said you guys had wings, and you were special, and he needed you."

"And that didn't cause you to suspect that he wanted to kill us, huh?" I asked, frowning.

Jaz pouted. "Do you guys really have wings? Can I see?"

Just as I opened my mouth to say no, Nudge grinned. "Of course! You have to promise not to tell anyone, though!" she told Jaz as she pulled off her pink jacket and extended her beautiful brown wings.

Jaz gasped. "I knew…but somehow I didn't believe you until I actually saw them…" she said in awe.

I frowned, putting Angel down. "Okay, Nudge. That's enough-"

"Watch me!" Gazzy yelled, unfolding his wings and leaping into the air. He beat his wings and began flying, quickly followed by Nudge.

Jaz stared up at the sky, her mouth wide open.

I facepalmed. Why would they ever listen to me?

"Wait for me, guys!" Iggy yelled, and soon he was a speck in the sky too. Angel ran up to me and I picked her up – she was just learning to fly, and I was teaching her, since Jeb seemed like he was always really busy.

"Let's go, Max!" she said, clinging to me.

"No, Ange. I don't think that's a good idea….I'll just stay down here."

"Come on," Fang said, a hint of a smile on his face. "You don't have to be the worrisome leader all the time."

Jaz was trying not to stare, but it was obviously hard for her. What can I say? We generally have that effect on people.

"Alright," I agreed, extending my brown and white wings, all thirteen feet of them. Jeb said my wingspan might be even bigger some day.

"Wow," Jaz gasped, staring.

I glared at her – she still wasn't on my 'favorite people' list or anything. She probably never would be.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you it was rude to stare?" I remarked, and soared up to join my flock, along with Fang. We left Jaz far below where she belonged.

Up here, we could be ourselves. We were literally meant to fly. We'd gone through years of pain and sadness back at the School, but now we were free, able to go anywhere we wanted.

It was amazing up here. Miles up in the sky, my sharp eyes picked out everything….our house, our school, kids riding bikes, people driving their cars home from work….everything.

I smiled, taking it all in. Flying was just…amazing. There was nothing else like it. And I was surrounded by my flock, the people I loved most in the world. I wished we could just stay like this forever.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We flew around for a long time, laughing and chasing each other and just having a lot of fun. I couldn't remember the last time we'd done this – it always felt like Jeb was trying to keep us a secret from everyone.

When we finally landed back in our yard, our cheeks pink and our hair looking pretty wild, only then did I remember Jaz was still there.

"Crap," I muttered. Her jaw was still dropped. I wondered if it had been like that the entire time.

"That….was….so COOL!" she yelled, running over to us. "Oh my gosh, that was amazing! I can't believe you guys really have wings! That must be amazing, being able to fly like that!"

"Yeah," I told her, crossing my arms over my chest and smirking. "It is."

"I wish I had wings, too!" Jaz exclaimed, smiling.

My face hardened. "No. No, you don't. You don't know what we went through." I shuddered, just thinking about it. I didn't want to think about it, but memories popped up in my head.

Sitting in a cramped cage in a dark room, year after year….never thinking we'd get out of there. Always being tested on, treated like we weren't even people. To them, we were just their…experiments. Their creations.

"Max?" Nudge's voice brought me back. "Max, are you okay?"

I realized my eyes had closed, and I opened them slowly. My fists were clenched.

"We don't like talking about it," Iggy explained. "Even thinking about it. They….they took my sight," he muttered, his eyes leveled at the ground. I put my hand on his shoulder.

Jaz looked at him, then back at me. "That's….terrible," she whispered.

I nodded, not really wanting to talk about it. "We managed to make it out of there over a year ago. Jeb helped. He's like my dad. Our dad, really."

"What about your real parents, then?" Jaz asked, her eyes wide.

"I really don't know," I said, frowning. "And we're done talking about it now. Let's go inside."

We'd said too much to Jaz already. I hadn't wanted her to know anything about us, and now, she knew plenty of things that we'd never told anyone else.

And she still wasn't even close to being on my favorite people list.

"Hey, kids," Jeb said as we walked past his office. "Did you have a good time outside?"

I gave Jaz a look that said, _You tell no one about us flying. Even Jeb._

"Yeah!" Jaz exclaimed, smiling. "They showed me how they could fly!"

Groaning, I smacked my forehead with my palm and then gave her the death glare.

"You _wha_t?!" Jeb asked, turning to face me. "Max, that is dangerous! What if someone saw you? You know how I feel about this!"

"Jaz saw us," Nudge pointed out unhelpfully.

"Yeah! It was really cool!" Jaz told him, smiling even bigger. "Thanks for letting me come over, it's been really fun!" She started to head for the door, but I followed her. The two of us stood alone in the entryway.

"Where are you going?" I asked, frowning. "Telling the Erasers where we are again?" I put my hands on my hips.

"No," Jaz said, mirroring me. "My mom is here to pick me up."

I peered out the window. There was some lady sitting there in a car. She looked non-Eraserish, so I relaxed a little.

"Okay, whatever," I responded. "You know I still don't like or trust you, right?"

Jaz looked a little hurt. "Well, okay," she said. "We're going shopping for dresses soon, right?"

"Huh?" I asked, a little surprised. Where had that come from?

"For Daisy's party," she explained, grinning. "We'll pick you up tomorrow, at ten since it's a Saturday! See you!" Then she ran out the door and jumped into the car, waving as her car drove away.

I frowned. What was I going to do about that girl?

~~::~~

"Oooh! Look at this dress!" Jaz exclaimed, picking up a pink one. "It's so pretty!"

"It makes me want to barf," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "It looks like a Barbie threw up on it or something."

"Well, I think it would look pretty on you," Jaz insisted, holding it up.

"Yeah right," I responded, crossing my arms over my chest. We'd been at the mall for an hour, and Jaz was basically torturing me with dress shopping. I ranked shopping almost as high as getting attacked by Erasers on the 'things I don't want to do' scale.

"Oh, there's a yellow one! That would look nice on you!" Jaz told me.

"Blah," I said, making a face. "Can we leave? Is there a food court?" Jeb had given me money, but maybe I could just save it and not buy a dress, therefore being saved from going to the party.

"Silly, we have to get you a dress first!" Jaz said, and continued looking through the racks of dresses. I turned and started looking out the window, making faces at shoppers that walked by. I mouthed "Help me" to a couple of them and pointed at Jaz.

"So? What do you think?" Jaz asked, and I turned to face her, ready to say that whatever dress she was wearing was hideous.

Jaz's dress was purple, and it actually looked okay on her. (That did not mean I was planning on wearing a dress or anything.)

"Fine," I muttered. "Can we buy it and leave?"

Jaz laughed, putting a hand on shoulder and pulling me towards the changing rooms. "Don't come out until you try this on!" she yelled, pushing me in one of the rooms and throwing a dress at me.

I sighed. I guess I'd try it on….the sooner I bought something, the sooner we could leave.

"Wow, Max! That looks so good on you!" Jaz exclaimed as I came out of the changing room. "You should totally get that!"

I glanced down at the dress. It was blue, which was not so bad of a color, and it actually hid my wings pretty well, which I was obviously more concerned about. "You think?" I asked, biting my lip. "I don't really-"

"Perfect!" she said, pushing me back in there. "Let's get it, then! Change and we can buy it!"

I found myself following her out of the store with a bag in my hand. I never expected I'd ever be buying a dress, and definitely not wearing one.

"Wasn't that fun, Max? We should have girl time more often!" Jaz said as we stood outside, waiting for her mom to pick us up.

I bit my lip. "I'm not really sure… I don't really like that kind of thing."

Jaz pouted. "Aww….but it's so much fun!"

"Maybe to you," I responded, rolling my eyes as her mom pulled up in front of us.

"I'm so excited for the party," Jaz said as we got in the car. "It's tomorrow, you know!"

"Right," I muttered, staring out the window. "Great." This was a really bad idea…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Nudge, are you done yet?" I asked, sighing. Nudge had spent at least an hour doing my hair, and now she was working on my nails. How did an eight-year-old know so much about that kind of stuff?

"Don't move!" she yelled, applying another coat of clear sparkly nail polish. I had objected to hot pink, obviously.

I rolled my eyes as Fang walked by, just wearing a collared shirt. Why wasn't Nudge making such a big fuss about him?

"Max, you're going to look so pretty!" Nudge went on. Angel, who was sitting on the bathroom counter, smiled and said, "Max is already pretty!"

I laughed. "Ha….um, thanks, Angel." Glancing at myself in the mirror, I realized I'd never really stopped to think about whether I was pretty or not. It just didn't seem like it was that important compared to, I dunno, staying alive.

When Nudge was finally finished with the makeover that I definitely hadn't wanted, I ran to my room and practically threw my knee-length dark blue dress on. When I came out, Nudge moaned, "You messed up your hair!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh no, what a nightmare!"

Iggy came out of his room, wearing a white dress shirt. "I think Max's hair looks just perfect," he said, and we all laughed.

I slipped on my beat up Converse, and Nudge groaned. "Max! You are not wearing those! What about heels?"

I smirked. "Sorry, Nudge. There's no way I'm wearing heels." Jaz had also forced me into buying these really tall heels, but I couldn't even stand up in them, and definitely not walk in them. Maybe I'd give them to Nudge in a few years.

Gazzy ran over to us. "Wow! You guys look good!"

I ruffled his hair. "Thanks, Gazzy."

"We all ready to go?" Fang asked, coming out of his room. As usual, he was wearing black, but Jeb had bought him a black collared shirt.

I nodded. "Yeah. I think so."

"Wait. Don't you need a present?" Gazzy asked.

"Right," I said, frowning. "Like what?"

"Nail polish!" Nudge told us. "You can never go wrong with nail polish!"

I grabbed a paper bag and dragged Fang and Iggy into the bathroom, then started dumping Nudge's nail polish bottles into the bag, motioning for Fang to help me.

"What are you doing?" Nudge wailed, running in there.

I laughed. "You said it yourself. 'You can never go wrong with nail polish!'"

"Not my nail polish!" Nudge whined. Iggy laughed and slapped high fives with Fang – I guess he was getting better at high-fiving people now.

We all piled into Jeb's car, even the younger kids, who wanted to see us off, and headed to that girl, Daisy's party.

"Bye!" Angel and Gazzy called as we got out of the car. Nudge was still sitting in the backseat, pouting over her nail polish.

I kissed the top of Angel's head. "We'll miss you!" Gazzy told me.

I laughed. "I'll miss you too. Let's hope I survive this party."

Then Jeb's car was driving away, leaving us standing on the sidewalk in front of some girl's house. We barely knew Daisy.

"Hi!" someone called, running over to us. No, it wasn't Jaz, thank god. "I'm so glad you could come!" Daisy said, hugging me. I stood there awkwardly, and then she let go, and turned to hug Fang and Iggy.

"We….uh, got you some nail polish," I told her, holding out the brown lunch bag. Suddenly, the bottom split open and all of the nail polish fell onto the ground. I groaned.

Daisy, standing there in her super sparkly, pink princess-style dress, laughed. "You are so funny, Max!" she said. "Come on, guys, the limo's over here!"

I looked at Fang. Limo?

Actually, three limos. Daisy must've invited a ton of people. We climbed inside one of the long, black cars and looked around. "Whoa," I said, staring. The limousine was amazing. There were flashing lights and a minifridge and a bunch of snacks, and even a TV. Music was blaring from the speakers.

"What?" Iggy asked in annoyance.

I shrugged, not wanting to make him feel bad. "It's just a really long car, Iggy. And the seats are on the side, against the window."

We sat towards the front of the limo. There were a lot of people from our class that were here already – I recognized Ryan, who smiled and waved at us.

Then all of a sudden, something- no, someone smashed right into Fang.

"Hi, Fnick!" Jaz said, a huge smile on her face. She was wearing her fancy purple dress that she'd picked out the other day.

I glanced around at the other girls. Why did they all look like they were going to prom or something? We were only in fifth grade! I didn't really care that my dress wasn't super fancy…in fact, I preferred something more casual. But a couple of the girls that I didn't know were giving me looks like I was something that the cat dragged in.

I stuck my tongue out at them and turned my attention back to what Jaz was saying, which was also a bad idea.

"Yeah, and there's going to be a lot of dancing!" Jaz was telling Fang. She had somehow squeezed in between the two of us. "So you should save a dance for me!"

"Um, sure," Fang said.

I rolled my eyes. "Great. I can't dance."

"Neither can I," Iggy pointed out. "Blind kids can't dance."

I laughed. "I bet you're still better than me, Ig."

Iggy grinned. "Oh, so you wanna bet? You're going to lose."

That was when Daisy called, "Okay, guys! We're ready to go!" A whole bunch of people cheered. Jaz, who was sitting next to me, was the loudest.

"Ow, my ears!" I whispered to Iggy, who laughed again. Jaz had practically screamed in my ear.

"Then let's go!" Daisy told the driver, and the limousine started moving. Jaz, who was now standing up, fell into Fang's lap.

"Uh….hi," he said.

"Hi," Jaz echoed, blushing.

"UGH!" I groaned, banging my face against the window.

"That sounded painful," Iggy told me.

"Jaz is in Fang's lap," I hissed. "And she doesn't seem like she's going to move anytime soon." Seriously, what was wrong with that girl? Someone had issues….

Iggy started laughing. I glared at him, then realized the effect was lost on him. "What are you laughing about?" I demanded.

"Nudge was right about you being jealous," he said, shrugging. I rolled my eyes.

"Rolling my eyes, Ig. And that is not true." Before he could object, I turned to Fang and Jaz. "Come on, Jaz. There are kids here," I said, pulling her off of Fang's lap. "And you're one of them!"

She smiled sweetly. "What's wrong, Max?"

My fists clenched. Did I ever mention how much I hate that girl?

Suddenly the limo came to a stop. Iggy fell onto me, and I pushed him off in annoyance.

"Here we are!" Daisy announced, opening the door. Everyone piled out of the limousine and followed her into the huge building.

"Wow," I said, looking around. The party was in a huge ballroom, and this place was super fancy. There were balloons and streamers and food everywhere, and there was even a DJ. Daisy's parents must be rich. If they could afford to do this for her eleventh birthday, what would her sixteenth birthday be like?

Daisy walked to the middle of the dance floor and spread her arms out dramatically. "Okay, everyone!" she called, and there was more cheering and clapping. "Let's dance!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I looked at Iggy. "We have to dance?"

"I told you," he said, shrugging. "I'm not going to dance!"

"Well, neither am I!" I responded, crossing my arms over my chest. Apparently, none of the other kids knew what we were supposed to be doing. Music was playing, but we all just stood there awkwardly, not moving.

Except for Jaz. "Come on, Fnick, let's go dance!" she yelled, grabbing Fang's arm and pulling him out into the middle of the dance floor. A whole bunch of people ran out onto the dance floor after them and started dancing.

"Ugh," I groaned. Leave it to Jaz to be annoying once again. At least they weren't ballroom dancing or anything – there was some pop song playing that I didn't recognize. People were dancing in groups, and luckily not doing anything romantic.

Then I spotted the snack table. "Come on, _Jeff._ Let's go get some snacks."

Iggy and I stood over by the food table, keeping an eye out for Fang. Well, actually, that's what I was doing. Iggy just kept repeating, "What's going on?" in an annoyed tone.

"Fang isn't really dancing," I remarked, watching him. "He's just standing there. Jaz is trying to get him to dance. Good luck with that."

That's when a couple girls came up to us, smiling. "Hi! Do you go to school with Daisy?" one of them asked.

"Uh…yeah," I said. "I'm pretty sure she's in our class."

"Pretty sure?" the other girl asked, frowning. "You should know that Daisy's parents are the richest people around."

I rolled my eyes. "Awesome, thanks for telling me. Although I kind of figured that out from the fancy ballroom and the limos and her million-dollar dress."

Surprisingly, all the girl did was hold out her hand. "I'm Sarah," she said. "And this is Autumn. We're Daisy's cousins."

"Right," I said, glancing at Iggy, who of course didn't notice that. "Um…I'm Max. And this is Jeff."

Autumn wrinkled her nose. "Max? Isn't that a boy's name?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, at least I'm not named after a season."

Meanwhile, Sarah was looking back and forth between me and Iggy. "Are you guys together or something?"

"Huh?" I yelled, jerking back. "Ig- I mean, Jeff is my brother."

"So are you guys twins or something?" Sarah asked. "Because you're in the same grade and everything."

"Yeah," I said. "That's it, we're twins." I punched Iggy. "Right?"

"Yeah," he repeated. I glared at the two girls.

"Now, goodbye. Go away."

Autumn frowned, but Sarah dragged her away. "Say goodbye, Autumn."

I stuck my tongue out at them as they walked away, then realized Iggy was looking at me – well, kind of.

"Did they really think that?" he asked.

"What? Think what?" I replied, frowning.

"Did they think that we were…together?" Iggy continued.

I laughed. "Come on, Ig. It's like I said. We're practically siblings, you know?"

He laughed too. "For sure."

Suddenly, the music changed to a slower song. I looked up and saw Jaz putting her hand on Fang's shoulder and putting his hand on her hip. She was saying something to him, but I couldn't tell what it was.

Fang was smiling, though. Actually smiling. And trust me on this one, Fang pretty much never smiles.

People were separating into couples. I was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be romantic, because some of the girls were dancing together and laughing, but Jaz must've thought differently.

I started walking towards them. Iggy ran after me, grabbing my arm. "Max! Where are you going?"

"To stop Jaz," I replied grimly. I was just a few feet away from them when the music changed to a faster song and everyone ran out onto the dance floor again. Daisy walked into the middle of the floor and announced, "We're going to play a game!"

A whole bunch of people cheered. "Let's make a circle!" Daisy continued. Unfortunately, Iggy and I were dragged into the circle. When I tried to retreat back to the edge of the room, someone – I think it was Sarah – grabbed my arm and whispered, "You should play! It's going to be fun!"

"Ugh," I muttered, glaring at her.

"Now, someone will go into the middle of the circle and dance! Then the person in the middle will tap someone else, who will go to the middle!"

Iggy whispered, "We're going to die."

Daisy, of course was first. I didn't really pay attention, because I was busy trying to figure out how to escape.

Then she tapped Ryan, who went in the middle, then tapped Matt, who ended up tapping Jaz. Jaz ran into the middle of the circle with a huge grin on her face. She was actually a pretty good dancer, but then she ran and grabbed Fang's arm.

"Come on, Fnick!" she shouted, and pulled him into the middle. I wondered if that was against the rules of the game. I didn't really care, though, because I knew Fang would not dance.

Well, he proved me wrong. Who knew Fang would dance? Maybe he wasn't the best dancer, but still. He was dancing.

Then Jaz skipped over and I thought she was going to tap me, but she tapped Sarah instead.

And then Sarah went in and danced, and came back – and tapped me.

"Go!" she said, pushing me into the middle of the circle.

I froze. I would not dance.

"Go Max!" Jaz cheered, jumping up and down. The music was really loud. I didn't know what to do.

"Here, I'll help you!" Jaz said, skipping up to me. "Just copy me!"

She started dancing again, and people cheered. Apparently, they really liked her dancing. But I didn't dance. I couldn't dance.

"Come on!" Jaz told me, grabbing my arm. "Just do what I do!"

And then somehow, I did. I was actually dancing. Jaz smiled. "See? You've got it!"

Then before I knew it, she was pulling me back to her side of the circle, and I tapped Autumn, and she ran in and started dancing.

Jaz smiled really big at me. "Wow, Max! You were really good!"

"Um….thanks," I said, trailing off. "Thanks for helping me."

"Anything for a friend!" Jaz responded with another big smile, and then took Fang's hand.

Any friendliness I'd felt towards her melted away. What was she doing, holding Fang's hand anyway? Fang didn't move. He didn't do anything to make her feel like she wasn't wanted.

I squinted at him. Was he not really Fang? No, it was still Fang, but something about him had changed.

Did he actually….like Jaz?

I didn't have any more time to ponder that, because I saw Iggy trying to make his way towards us. Poor Iggy – the loud music made it hard for him to hear our voices.

I ran over to him. "Hey, Ig. I'm right here." Suddenly, I noticed four men standing against the wall. Four tall, tough-looking men that looked like supermodels, with cruel expressions on their faces.

I grabbed Iggy's arm, and he frowned. "What?"

I hadn't heard them coming because of the loud music, but I definitely saw them now.

"Erasers," I whispered.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Erasers?" Iggy repeated. "Why would they be invited to the party?"

I rolled my eyes. "They're not invited, stupid! They're crashing the party! And I'm sure you know why!"

His face paled. "Grab Fang and let's go."

When I ran to get Fang, Jaz decided to be annoying. "Max, where are you going?" she asked, her hand still latched onto Fang's.

I ignored her. "Erasers. Let's move," I hissed in Fang's ear. He looked up, spotted the Erasers, and nodded.

We ran for the door. No one really noticed we were leaving because they were all still dancing and having fun. We almost made it to the door, but-

"Leaving already?" a man asked, planting himself in front of us. "I thought you were enjoying my daughter's birthday party."

"Um, sorry, but we really have to go," I told the guy, who must have been Daisy's dad.

"I wouldn't dream of letting her guests leave before the party's over," he continued, striding forward and causing the four of us to step backwards.

"Sorry, Mr. Daisy's Dad, but we really have to go!" Jaz yelled. I looked at her in surprise. Since when did she want to help us?

A nasty grin appeared on his face. "I don't think so."

Suddenly, we were surrounded by Erasers. Some were already morphed into wolf form, and others were changing right now. There were four of them, but Erasers were strong, and fast. They stood around us, laughing and grinning.

My fists clenched. "Iggy, Eraser at twelve 'o' clock. You know what to do." He nodded, and I looked at Fang, who also nodded.

"What about me?" Jaz whispered, still clutching Fang's hand.

"Try not to get killed," I offered.

Before we knew it, the Erasers were leaping at us, snarling. I grabbed one's arm and twisted it back, and he howled, before yanking his arm out of my grip. With a sweep of his arm, he hit me and I staggered back into the wall.

Blood trickled down from my forehead. Glancing around, I saw Iggy was doing okay, while Fang was trying to fight off two Erasers at the same time. I had no idea where Jaz was, but hopefully she'd managed to get away and went back to the party where she belonged.

_How did they find us?_ I wondered, then spotted a fancy potted plant. Perfect.

The one that threw me into the wall rushed forward, but at the last second I grabbed the plant, snapped out my wings, and jumped into the air. Surprisingly, the party guests didn't notice a thing.

"Hey, Wolf Freak! Up here!" I yelled. When he looked up, I dropped the plant on his head. This distracted him for a few seconds, and I flew behind him and leaped onto his shoulders, then started punching his head. Finally, he crumpled to the ground – not dead, but at least knocked out.

I turned to find Iggy and Fang. Two of the other Erasers were also passed out, lying on the ground, but they were still fighting one.

Iggy stumbled backwards and fell down, and the Eraser pinned him to the ground.

"Iggy!" I screamed, running towards him. But before I got there, Fang leaped onto the Eraser's back.

The Eraser jerked backwards, throwing him off. Fang stumbled, then got up. I ran towards them.

"Looks like it's the three of us against you," I said, smirking, and then roundhouse kicked him in the chest. I heard him taking big gulps of air.

We ran towards him, Fang kicking him this time, and he fell backwards into the wall. A huge urn fell on his head, and then Fang grabbed a painting off the wall and smashed it on top of him.

"That should take care of them," I said, putting my hands on my hips as Fang helped Iggy up.

"What happened?" a voice shrieked from behind us. I realized suddenly that the music had stopped. I whirled and saw Daisy, standing there, her jaw dropped. She was obviously shocked.

"Well, these…things came and attacked us," I said, trying to explain. "And…um…I'm really sorry."

Daisy just stared at us. I glanced down at my dress – it was torn and splattered with blood. Good thing I hadn't planned on wearing it ever again.

Suddenly, I realized my dress was torn in the back, where my wings were tightly pulled in – it obviously tore when I flew. Daisy hadn't noticed that yet, but she might.

Fang apparently noticed that too, because he yanked off his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders. It was covered in what was hopefully Eraser blood and not Fang's blood, but I didn't care. I looked at him in surprise and he shrugged.

I took a deep breath and looked at Daisy. "Okay, listen. Your dad wouldn't let us leave, and-"

"What? You wanted to leave?" she yelled, and the other kids who were at the party turned and looked at us. Great. Now we had everyone's attention.

I frowned. "Well, it was really urgent, and we had to go. I'm sorry, but-"

"Daisy. Go back to your party. I'll take care of your guests."

I looked up to see Daisy's dad walking towards us. Suddenly, everything fell into place.

Daisy's dad must have been working with the School. That's how the Erasers knew where we were, and why he wouldn't let us leave.

And that also must have been why he seemed eager to get the three of us alone.

Daisy hesitated, but her father put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm smile. "Daisy, please. I want you to enjoy your party."

She frowned. "Well…okay." After glaring at me, she turned to the other kids. "Come on, guys! Who's ready to have some cake?"

Everyone cheered and followed her into another room.

Daisy's father turned to the three of us with a cruel smile. "Now, come with me."

My fists clenched. "Are you kidding me? No way!"

His face hardened. "You will do so immediately. Unless, of course, you're feeling like fighting them again." He gestured to the Erasers, who were beginning to wake up.

I glanced at Iggy, then at Fang, who shook his head. I smirked, then turned back to Daisy's dad. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going anywhere with you, creep."

"Hey!" Jaz's voice yelled, and I looked up to see her walking over towards us from the snack table. I mentally groaned. Leave it to Jaz to interrupt once again.

"Jaz, go away!" I ordered as she came closer.

"Yes, that's right, listen to your friend," Daisy's dad said, and I frowned, making a face. Jaz was definitely not my friend.

"No," Jaz said, walking up to us and putting her hands on her hips. "You're the one that told me to help you! You're the one that tried to have Max killed! And you tried to kill my sister!"

My eyes widened. I was right – this guy was in league with the School.

"Well,well, well," Daisy's father replied with a laugh. "It would have worked if you hadn't messed it up, wouldn't it?"

Jaz just stood there, hands still on her hips. "Why would you want to do that?"

Daisy's dad smiled. "Well, you're a inquisitive one." He leaned closer to Jaz and said, "It's for the money. The fortune."

I frowned. "Wait. So are you….a scientist? For the School?"

He laughed. This guy had a pretty good evil laugh, actually. "Not for the School, but yes. And you three are some of the most successful experiments ever created in history. So, you will be coming with me."

"I don't think so," I snapped, then grabbed Iggy's arm and shoved Fang forward. "Move it! Now!"

We ran for the door, but the Erasers were awake now, and they leaped in front of us, blocking our escape route.

I looked up, and had an idea. "Up and away. Now."

Fang looked up too. "There's a ceiling, you know."

I smirked. "I know." Then right when the Erasers were about to reach us, I leaped up, snapped my wings out again, and soared upward. Iggy and Fang did the same.

"Fang!" Jaz screamed from below. "Help me!"

Oops. We kind of left her down there with the Erasers. Just because I hated her didn't mean I wanted her to be killed by the Erasers.

Fang swooped down and scooped her up, and I beat my wings as fast as I could, rushing towards the glass ceiling. The glass shattered, cutting me in multiple places, but I didn't stop flying. Iggy was close behind me, and then Fang, who was flying slower than normal, due to Jaz's added weight.

I peered down into the ballroom, where Daisy's father was shouting curses at us.

"How's that for the highlight of the party?" I asked, smirking.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The next day at school, we were bombarded with questions.

"Max, that was so cool how you fought those… those wolf things! What were they anyway?"

"Why did you guys leave the party early? You missed the cake!"

"Are you alright?"

I put my hands up in a 'stop' gesture. "Okay, okay. Enough questions. Now, um…" I was wondering just how to answer their questions when the bell rang, and I sat down in relief.

Well, at least they hadn't seen our wings.

"Why are we back here, anyway?" Fang whispered.

"Huh?" I asked, frowning.

"The Erasers know where we are now," he continued quietly. "Shouldn't we leave?"

I bit my lip, thinking about it. I hadn't told Jeb about what had happened at the party because I hadn't wanted to leave. I was just starting to like this place.

There was one thing I wouldn't miss, though – Jaz.

When it was time for art class, she skipped over to us. "Hi, Fnick!" she said, beaming. "That party sure was fun, yesterday, wasn't it?"

I rolled my eyes. Fang responded with, "I guess."

Jaz smiled. "I know, right? And then at the end, when we-"

I slammed my hand over her mouth. "Shut up!"

Jaz winced, and I removed my hand. "Oops," she said.

I frowned, as Jaz reached for Fang's hand. I was about to say something when our art teacher told everyone to sit down.

"Today, we will begin painting pictures of lighthouses," she said, and began handing out photos for people to use.

I never was that good at art, so I wasn't really sure what to do. I glanced around, but I didn't see anyone doing anything….except for Iggy, who was sitting next to me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, laughing. He was smearing paint all over the place – not only on his canvas, but all over the table and himself.

He grinned. "I'm painting a lighthouse."

I laughed. "Wow. Looks so amazing," I said sarcastically. "Maybe you can say that it's abstract art!"

Iggy started laughing too. "Yeah, good idea!"

Everyone in our class started staring at us, which made me start laughing even harder. Daisy narrowed her eyes at us, frowning. Jaz just gave us a blank look.

Our art teacher ran up to us. "Jeff! What are you doing?"

"I'm painting a lighthouse," he explained again, and I started laughing again.

The teacher rolled her eyes, as if to say, _Why did I let the blind kid use the paint?_

"Alright, Jeff," she said, sighing. "I think you're done with painting."

Iggy leaned over and whispered to me, "So much for my abstract art."

As the teacher cleaned up, I stared at my canvas. "What am I supposed to do?"

Iggy, who was yanking off his paint-covered smock, grinned. "Want me to help?"

With a smile, I handed him a paintbrush. "Go ahead."

It wasn't long before everything around us was covered in paint – again. Iggy and I were laughing really hard when the teacher ran up to us.

"What are you doing? Didn't I tell you not to get paint everywhere?"

"Oops," Iggy said as he continued to paint. I smeared some paint on his face.

"Stop right now," she warned. Everyone was staring at us again. I realized I had paint in my hair and all over my face. Iggy did too.

Iggy dabbed some more paint on the table. I rolled my eyes. Idiot.

The teacher's face looked really red now. She was obviously ticked off at us.

"That's it," she said. "Just go talk to the principal while I clean this mess up."

I groaned. Not the principal again.

The principal was busy when we got there, so we had to sit down on a bench outside his office. I frowned, trying not to get paint all over the bench, then decided it didn't really matter.

"Well, here we are again," I sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Iggy asked, shrugging. "This is my first time here!"

I laughed, hitting him. "You know what I'm talking about! Besides, if you stick with me I'm sure you'll end up here a lot more often."

He laughed, and then we were quiet. Finally, Iggy said, "Did you mean what you said at the party yesterday?"

"Huh?" I looked up. "What do you mean?"

"You said that we were like….siblings," he said quietly, a slight frown on his face.

I nodded. "Yeah, of course! I mean, you _are_ like a brother to me."

"Right," Iggy replied in almost a whisper, his head angled downward towards his lap.

I narrowed my eyes at him. What was wrong with him?

"Mr. Robin will see you now," the secretary said.

I sighed as we stood up. "Oh. Okay. Come on, Jeff." I pushed him forward.

Mr. Robin just laughed when he saw us. "Looks like you two got in a bit of trouble in art class," he said, motioning for us to sit down.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "So? We were trying to have some fun. People at this school hate fun."

He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you, Max? This is your third time here, and you've just begun school here."

"This is only Jeff's first time," I said, pointing at Iggy.

"Yes," Mr. Robin said. "I am well aware of that."

I frowned and slumped lower in my seat.

"You make a mess in art class, you disrespect your teacher, and you can never pay attention," Mr. Robin went on.

"Hey!" I yelled, sitting up. "What's with the insults?"

"These are true facts," Mr. Robin replied, looking through my file. I scowled at him.

He continued giving me a really long lecture, while I zoned out, basically trying to ignore him.

Then he looked at Iggy. "And Jeff?"

Iggy looked up. "Huh?"

"You both need to apologize to your teacher and help clean up." He stood up. "You may go."

I looked at him. "What about candy?"

Mr. Robin shook his head. "There will be no candy for children with bad behavior."

"But-" I started, and he cut me off.

"That is enough, Maxine. Now, the two of you may go back to your classroom."

As we walked back to art class, I frowned. "What's his problem?"

"What do you mean?" Iggy asked.

"Normally he's all nice but today he seemed really mad. Just like all the other teachers at this school."

Iggy shrugged. "Maybe he's having a bad day."

I sighed. "I dunno. It's just….weird."

When we walked back into class, everyone got really quiet. I rolled my eyes. We were still covered in paint, and I was pretty sure it wasn't coming off anytime soon.

I looked at Iggy, and we started laughing all over again.


	12. Chapter 12

**Well, I'd like to just take a second before posting the next chapter to thank all my readers- you guys are pretty awesome! Here's to you. :)**

~~::~~

Chapter 12

Iggy and I were still laughing when we got on the bus later that day. Our clothes were also still covered in paint.

"What's with them?" Nudge asked Gazzy. He shrugged.

Iggy laughed. "We just had fun at school today."

"How is that possible?" Gazzy shouted, grinning.

I shrugged. "We got paint everywhere. It was pretty fun."

"Why didn't you invite me?" Gazzy protested, making us laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Iggy reaching for my hand.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you doing?"

He turned bright red. "Uh…I was just…I mean…nothing."

I frowned. "Right…" I murmured, trailing off.

After what seemed like hours, the bus pulled up to our stop. We managed to leave Jaz behind on the bus – thank god – and ran all the way home.

"Hello!" Jeb called from the kitchen. "Come in, I have to talk to you about something!"

We all ran into the kitchen, where Jeb had already set out a snack for us. As we ate, he said, "So what do you kids think about taking a vacation?"

Milk almost went up my nose. "A what?" I asked, surprised.

"A vacation," Jeb continued. "Would you guys like that?"

I decided I had to be the reasonable leader, since Jeb wasn't doing too good of a job. "Well, we-"

I was cut off by Nudge. "Yeah! A vacation!" she cheered, grinning. "That sounds like fun! We should go to the beach! Or Hawaii!"

"Hawaii is a beach," Gazzy said.

"No, it's an island! But it has beaches!" Nudge argued.

I didn't even get what they were talking about. As usual, the younger kids weren't making any sense.

"Jeb, are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked, frowning.

He glanced at me. "What do you mean, Max? I thought you would enjoy going on a vacation."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I guess," I muttered. Why was Jeb making decisions for my flock? I was the leader here.

Normally, vacation would sound fun, but since Jeb was trying to act all leader-ish, I decided to object. I knew everyone else would want to go.

I sighed. "Alright, flock vote. Who wants to go?"

Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and even Angel raised their hands. I glanced at Fang, who shrugged.

I frowned. He probably didn't want to leave Jaz.

Jeb smiled. "Alright, it's settled! We leave tomorrow!" That left me wondering how long, exactly, he'd been planning this.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Nudge asked.

Jeb just smiled again. "It's a secret."

~~::~~

"Road trip! Road trip!" Gazzy yelled as we piled our bags into the car.

Did we have school today? Yes. Did Jeb even care that we were ditching school to go on a surprise vacation to a secret destination?

That would be a negative.

I rolled my eyes as Fang called shotgun. "I want a window seat!" Nudge yelled. "Otherwise I'm going to barf!"

In the end, our seating arrangement was as follows: Fang riding shotgun, Iggy and me in the middle row, and Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge crammed in the back.

We were about twenty miles from our house when Nudge wailed from the backseat, "I forgot my nail polish!"

I sighed in exasperation. "Nudge, you don't need your nail polish. You're like, eight."

"We have to go back!" Nudge whined.

That was when Angel realized she didn't have her favorite teddy bear. "Where's Teddy?" she cried, looking around.

"I think I forgot to pack him," Jeb admitted.

Angel started crying. Between that and Nudge whining about beauty products, I was ready to throw someone out of this car.

"We're not going back," Jeb started to say, as Gazzy yelled, "I don't have my G.I. Joe action figures!"

"Are you kidding me?" I yelled back. "You said you had everything!"

"Well, you can't get mad at me!" Gazzy shouted. "I'm only five!"

I rolled my eyes. "That is not a valid excuse and you know it!"

"Everyone shut up!" Iggy hollered. This, of course, got everyone yelling even louder.

I facepalmed. "You have got to be kidding me. This was the worst idea ever."

~~::~~

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer," Gazzy sang from the backseat.

I whirled. "Gazzy, stop singing about beer! You're just a little kid!"

"TAKE ONE DOWN AND PASS IT AROUND!" he belted even louder. "Ninety-eight bottles of BEER ON THE WALL!"

I resisted the urge to slam my head against the window. We'd been in the car for a few hours now, but it felt like an eternity. Between Nudge moaning over nail polish and Gazzy's singing, this vacation was not off to a very good start.

Jeb was currently trying to get the GPS to work.

"Make a U-turn," the GPS said.

"We can't! We're on the freeway!" Iggy yelled at it.

"What would happen if you made a U-turn on the freeway?" The Gasman looked thrilled at this idea.

"You would get in a giant accident and there would be a huge explosion and everyone would die!" Iggy told him.

"Wow," Gazzy said in awe. "Cool."

"Make a U-turn," the GPS told us again.

"NO!" Everyone yelled at it.

~~::~~

"Jeb, I'm hungry," Nudge complained for about the fiftieth time in the last ten minutes.

"Me too," Gazzy chimed in. "Let's get some food!"

We were driving west – that much, I could tell. None of us still had any idea where Jeb was taking us exactly, but we were heading west. That was where the School was, which made me a bit nervous.

Jeb finally gave in. "Okay, okay," he said, turning off the freeway and pulling into a McDonald's parking lot.

"Yeah! McDonalds!" Nudge cheered as the rest of the kids piled out of the car and I unbuckled Angel from her car seat so I could carry her inside.

"I want like ten Happy Meals!" Nudge said.

"Me too!" Iggy chimed in. "With lots of fries!"

Jeb frowned. "We don't have enough money for ten Happy Meals for each person."

"Look! They have Pokémon toys!" Gazzy yelled, looking at the Happy Meal toy display.

"I'll have a few burgers," Fang decided.

"Can we get McFlurrys? Can we, can we?" Nudge asked, jumping up and down.

"Quiet!" Jeb ordered. It didn't really work that well. Everyone just went on talking and jumping up and down or whatever, except for Fang, who's not much of a talker in the first place.

In the end, Jeb ended up ordering eighteen Happy Meals – three for each of us – and about five orders of fries and a ton of drinks. He sighed as he looked at the receipt.

Soon, we were all climbing back in the car, ready to head out again. As we drove down the road, everyone drifted off to sleep. I turned around to see Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel all fast asleep.

Iggy rested his head on my shoulder, his eyes already closed. I smiled as I looked around at my flock – my family – sleeping peacefully.

"Goodnight, guys," I murmured.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Max! Max, wake up!" a voice yelled, right in my ear.

"AAH!" I shouted, bolting upright. For a second, I wondered why I wasn't in my bed. Why were we in the car?

"Look! It's the beach!" Gazzy shrieked, yanking on my hair. "Cut it out!" I yelled, and then turned to look out the window.

I'd never been to the beach before – none of us had. I guess you don't get to go on vacation much when you grow up in a lab.

Well, it was amazing. The water was sparkling, and it was really sunny. Palm trees lined the street, and there were people up and down the beach.

"Wow," I said, pressing my face against the window. "This is so cool."

We were all staring out the window – well, except for Jeb, who was driving, and Iggy, who was still sleeping.

I bit my lip, wondering if I should wake Iggy up, but he wouldn't be able to see the beach anyway. And I didn't want to make him feel bad.

"Jeb! Let's go to the beach, right now!" Nudge hollered from the backseat.

"Yeah!" Angel said, and Gazzy started chanting, "Let's go! Let's go!"

"All right, why not?" Jeb responded, and the three of them cheered as loud as they could. I smiled at their happiness. It wasn't every day we got to do something like this.

"I don't have a swimsuit," Nudge whined as she clambered out of the car.

"Nudge, you don't need a swimsuit-" I started to tell her, but she grabbed Gazzy's hand and dragged him into some swimsuit shop. Gazzy started screaming at her that he didn't want to go in there.

I rolled my eyes, then turned to wake Iggy up. I had no idea how he'd slept through Nudge's screaming.

"Ig, wake up," I told him, poking his head. "We're here."

His eyes opened. "Where is here?"

"The beach," I explained, looking around. Jeb was buying Angel some ice cream, Gazzy was screaming at Nudge, and Fang was looking completely bored.

Great family vacation….not.

I helped Iggy out of the car and we walked over to Jeb, who was trying to hold Angel while paying for her ice cream at the same time.

"Jeb!" Nudge yelled, running up to him. "Will you buy me a swimsuit?"

"Uh…" Jeb started to say. That was when Gazzy grabbed Angel's ice cream and started eating it. Angel started crying, and Nudge went on talking about swimsuits.

I marched over to Gazzy and yanked the ice cream cone out of his hand. "That's for your sister, dummy," I told him, handing the ice cream over to Angel, who was still in Jeb's arms.

She took it, but then accidentally dropped it on Nudge's head. Gazzy started cracking up, Fang smirked, and Nudge started screaming.

I sighed. When was this vacation going to be over?

~~::~~

"Max, let's go in the water!" Nudge demanded, pulling on my arm. "It's not too cold!" Her clothes were soaking wet – Jeb had obviously decided that she didn't need a swimsuit – and she was dripping all over the place.

"Come on or I'll give you a nice wet hug!" she yelled, running towards me. I ran towards the water, laughing and turning to see if she was following.

"Me too! I wanna come too!" Gazzy shouted, standing up. He had been busy building a sandcastle with Iggy, and now they walked towards us, Iggy's hand on Gazzy's shoulder. Angel ran behind them, a grin on her face.

"C'mon, Fang!" I yelled, waving at him.

He shook his head.

"Booooo!" Nudge called, sticking her tongue out at him. "Loser!"

Fang just shrugged and went back to doing…I don't even know what he was doing. Probably moping about not getting to see Jaz.

I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest, turning my back to him. "Alright, gang! Let's go!"

Nudge giggled and ran into the water, and I ran after her.

"Oh! It's cold!" I exclaimed, laughing. I kicked some water at Nudge, who shrieked and ran away, only to come back and splash me again.

"This is so much fun!" Gazzy yelled, with a huge smile on his face. All five of us were smiling, actually.

Then all of a sudden, a huge wave crashed on top of us, soaking us all. We all looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.

Maybe I was wrong – this vacation was definitely looking up.

Angel squatted down on the sand, picking up seashells. She pressed one into Iggy's hand. "This is for you!" she said, beaming.

"What color?" he asked, in almost a whisper.

"Orange!" Angel told him, then skipped off to find more seashells.

I put a hand on Iggy's shoulder. "Hey, you alright?"

He nodded, the hand that Angel's seashell was in clenched tight.

"I just wish that…" Iggy started, but trailed off. I put my arms around him in a hug.

"I know, Iggy. I know."

~~::~~

"Let's get room service!" Nudge yelled, jumping up and down on the bed.

"Yeah! Room service! Room service!" Gazzy echoed her, climbing onto the bed and beginning to jump.

I pulled Nudge down and looked at Gazzy. "You're going to get hurt!"

"No I'm nooooot!" he yelled, jumping from that bed to the other.

I rolled my eyes. When was Jeb going to be back? He left to get a couple extra blankets and pillows, leaving me to deal with _these_ crazy kids.

"Gazzy, get down. Angel, please don't put Jeb's keys in your mouth. Nudge-" I whirled, looking for Nudge.

"Nudge, for the tenth time, you cannot have anything in that minifridge! It costs money!" I told her, dragging her away from the fridge.

Being the leader was a tough job. Trust me, I'm definitely not paid enough.

Iggy was sitting on the couch, unusually quiet. He still had the seashell in his hand, and he was just holding it tightly, like he was afraid that he'd lose it if he let go of it.

Fang was watching a baseball game on TV, and Gazzy ran over. "Go Yankees!" he screamed.

"The Yankees aren't even playing!" Fang said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh! Touchdown!" Gazzy shouted, ignoring Fang. Obviously, Fang didn't feel like explaining to him that they didn't even have touchdowns in baseball.

I sighed, sitting down next to Iggy and putting my hand on his arm. "Hey," I said, with a weak smile. I knew he was still feeling pretty down from our beach adventure, so I figured maybe I could cheer him up.

"Oh, hey," Iggy responded. We sat there in silence for a couple seconds – well, not really silence, because between Nudge and Gazzy's screaming and the TV blaring, it was pretty loud.

Then Iggy said, "Hey, Max, could I ask you something?"

I smiled. "Yeah, sure. Anything."

He looked really nervous, so I just waited patiently to hear what he was going to say. "Well, um, you see, I really-"

"Hey guys, lights out!' Jeb called, walking into the room. Nudge moaned and Fang started complaining that the game wasn't even over.

The guys headed into the room next door – we'd gotten adjoining rooms – and I curled up in bed next to Angel.

But for some reason I couldn't sleep, so I just lay in my bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what exactly it was that Iggy was going to ask me.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Disneyland! Disneyland!" Gazzy chanted as Jeb paid for our overly expensive tickets. Nudge looked like she was about to explode from being so excited.

That's right, folks – we were headed to the Happiest Place on Earth, also known as the most expensive place on earth. There were crowds everywhere, and within minutes of entering the park, some lady with a stroller almost ran me over.

I rolled my eyes, then looked at Gazzy, who had the map. "Where to?"

He shrugged. "I dunno! I can't read!"

I sighed in exasperation, yanking the map out of his hands. "Give me that."

"Let's go to Sleeping Beauty's Castle!" Nudge suggested, pulling the map away from me.

"Boo, that's boring!" Gazzy yelled at her. "Obviously we should go on Pirates of the Carribean!"

"How about Space Mountain?" Fang asked.

"It's Mickey Mouse!" Gazzy shouted, running off towards some guy in a mouse suit.

I frowned. "Get back here!"

"Make me!" Gazzy yelled back, cutting everyone in line just so he could have his picture taken with a giant rodent.

I ran over and grabbed Gazzy, pulling him back towards our group. "Come on, Gazzy. Behave. Be like Angel," I advised him, then looked at Angel. She was perched on Jeb's shoulders, happily yanking his hair.

"Okay, never mind," I told Gazzy. "Don't be like Angel."

~~::~~

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!" Gazzy, Nudge, and Iggy belted as loud as they could. Fang looked like he had a headache, and I was just pretending I didn't know them. Angel wasn't tall enough to go on pretty much every single ride, which left her outside with Jeb.

"Max, isn't this so much fun?" Nudge asked, turning and beaming at me as Gazzy started singing the song again.

I rolled my eyes. "It would be, if you guys weren't being so annoying."

"Come on, Max! Lighten up!" Iggy told me. "We're at Disneyland! It's supposed to be fun!"

I looked at him a bit strangely. Iggy had been feeling down yesterday, but today he seemed like he was back to his old self.

Hmm. Oh well.

"Where are we going next?" Gazzy asked as we got off the ride.

"Hmm," I said, frowning. "Good question." That was when I spotted Jeb, waiting outside the ride entrance with Angel in his arms. He seemed oblivious to everything that was going on around him. I was sure he wouldn't notice if we left…

I smiled. "Come on, let's go to Haunted Mansion."

Nudge gave me a weird look. "What about Jeb? Isn't he waiting for us?"

"Don't worry," I replied with a grin. "He won't mind."

~~::~~

"This ride is so scary!" Nudge cried, clinging to me. "There are ghosts everywhere!"

I sighed. "Nudge, they're fake."

"AAH!" she screamed as a robotic zombie popped out from behind a gravestone. "Don't kill me!"

Finally, we got off the ride. Nudge looked like she was about to burst into tears, and Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang just had bored expressions on their faces.

"Um…." I said, looking around for some other ride.

"Tom Sawyer Island!" Gazzy yelled.

"What? No, that sounds boring," Iggy complained.

"How about Splash Mountain?" Fang suggested.

About a half hour later, we were about to get on the ride. "I call not sitting in the front," Nudge yelled.

"Alright, alright," Gazzy said. "We know, you've been saying that for ten minutes straight."

When the Disneyland employee directed us to get on the ride, we all scrambled on, except for Nudge, who was busy fixing her hair or something.

Unfortunately for her, the only open seat was in the front.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" she yelled as she got on. "I hate you guys!"

Gazzy gave her an evil smirk. "We don't care!"

As you can imagine, Nudge complained for the entire ride.

Finally, we got to the big drop, and Nudge was screaming, "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"

The rest of us were basically laughing like crazy at her.

When our log got to the bottom, water splashed up, soaking Nudge. She started yelling at us again. "I hate you guys! This was the worst ride ever!"

"Enjoy your day at the Happiest Place on Earth," the Disneyland employee told us as we got off the ride.

"Yeah, right!" Nudge said, her arms crossed over her chest.

Fang stopped to buy ice cream for Nudge to make up for her being forced to sit in the front, and of course Gazzy wanted one too. That left me with Iggy, so we sat down on a nearby bench and waited for the little kids to get their ice cream.

I grinned at Iggy, though I knew he couldn't see it. "Having fun?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess."

Suddenly I remembered something. "Oh, yeah! Iggy, what was it you were going to ask me yesterday?"

His face turned bright red. "What? Oh, it was nothing. I mean, it wasn't too important."

I shrugged. "Well, what is it then?"

"Um…" Iggy replied, frowning. "Um, I forgot."

I raised an eyebrow. "Riiiight. Come on, just tell me."

He shook his head. "It's kind of embarrassing."

I smirked. "So you do remember!" If possible, Iggy turned even more red.

"Yes! I mean, uh, no. I don't."

I laughed, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Iggy. Tell me. I won't tell anyone."

"Well…" Iggy trailed off, frowning. "Okay. Okay, I'll tell you."

I waited to hear what he was going to say, pretty curious. He sure was getting worked up over whatever it was.

Suddenly he turned to face me. "WellMaxyouseeIkindofreallyli keyou."

I just stared at him. "Wait….what?"

"Hi, Max! Hi, Iggy! We got ice cream!" Nudge yelled, running over to us.

Fang sighed. "There goes my allowance."

"What allowance?" I asked him, smirking, but my mind was on other things.

"Come on, let's go on Space Mountain!" Gazzy shouted, and I laughed, leading the way.

But as we walked, I kept looking over my shoulder at Iggy.

What the heck was that supposed to mean?


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Jeb, can we please stay to watch the fireworks? Please, please, please?" Nudge begged, jumping up and down.

Jeb smiled. "Of course." While he went to go buy us some popcorn, we sat down on a bench, waiting for the fireworks to start.

We'd been at Disneyland for the entire day so far, and now it was nighttime. Up and down the street, the little shops and restaurants were lit up with brightly colored lights.

Suddenly, all the lights dimmed and music began playing. Angel, who was sitting on Fang's lap, stared in wonder as fireworks lit up the sky. Nudge and Gazzy were also frozen in awe. Even Fang looked like he was enjoying himself.

Then there was Iggy. Once again, he was missing out on something.

I bit my lip. "Uh, hey, Iggy."

Ever since his, um, declaration of love earlier today, I'd kind of been avoiding Iggy, trying to sit next to Nudge and Gazzy whenever I could. But now, he was right next to me.

"Hey," he muttered. His head was tilted downward, his hands in his lap.

"Um… you're not really missing much," I said, trying to make him feel better. "It's not all that impressive."

Iggy didn't say anything.

"Iggy?" I asked, peering at him. "Are you okay?"

His head shot up. "No. I'm not! Everyone is always saying, "Look at that!" or "Did you see that?" I never get to see anything! I don't get to experience things like the rest of you!"

My eyes widened. "Iggy, I'm really sorry-"

Iggy put his hand in front of my face, palm facing towards me. "No. Just stop. I don't want to hear it." He pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs.

I looked at him. "Iggy…" I whispered, but I didn't really know what to say.

I reached out and took his hand. "Hey, Iggy. Listen."

He looked up in surprise. "What?"

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Listen. Don't you ever think that you're different than the rest of us just because you can't see. I mean, you can do plenty of awesome stuff. You're a great fighter. And a really good cook. And most of all, a really great friend. And without you being the way you are…well, the flock just wouldn't be the same."

A hint of a smile played on his lips. "You…you think so?"

I grinned. "I know so." I paused, thinking. "Iggy, I'll always be here for you. No matter what, I'll never leave you. Ever. I'm here for you, Iggy. Maybe you don't need sight because…well, because I can be your eyes for you."

I looked away quickly, frowning. Had that sounded too stupid? But when I looked back at Iggy, he was smiling. "Thank you, Max," he whispered.

I started smiling too, just as the fireworks ended and everyone started standing up to leave.

I suddenly realized I was still holding his hand. I let go quickly, then remembered what I had said to Iggy.

_I'll always be here for you. No matter what, I'll never leave you._

Despite my blushing, I reached out to take his hand once again.

~~::~~

"The beach again?" Fang complained as Jeb drove towards the beach. "Do we have to?"

Nudge and Gazzy started booing him.

"I love the beach!" Nudge proclaimed.

"Then why don't you marry it?" Gazzy asked her, snickering. Nudge made an appalled expression – apparently, that was the worst insult ever when you were in second grade.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, guys. Settle down."

"You settle down!" Gazzy yelled.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Make me, dumbo."

"Well…." Gazzy trailed off. "Make me!"

Jeb sighed. "Okay, okay. We're here," he murmured as he pulled into the parking lot, obviously exasperated.

"Yay!" Nudge squealed. "The beach!"

"Boo," Fang muttered. "The beach."

I laughed, elbowing him. "What? Mr. Dark and Depressing doesn't like the beach?"

He gave me a death glare. "Don't call me that."

"O-kay then," I muttered, climbing out of the car behind everybody else.

"Race you guys!" Gazzy yelled, dashing towards the water. I laughed, then looked over my shoulder for Iggy.

"Hey, come on!" I said, grabbing his arm. "You don't wanna miss all the fun, do you?"

He shook his head, smiling. "Nope. Let's go."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"I don't want to go home," Nudge whined.

"Can we just stay a little longer?" Gazzy pleaded. "I like it here! There aren't any beaches in Colorado!"

"A couple more days!" Iggy begged.

"No, we're heading home," Jeb insisted. I heard Fang mutter, "It's about time."

We all turned to glare at him.

"What?" he asked, shrugging.

"Fang misses his girlfriend that bad, huh?" Nudge teased.

"Shut up," Fang told her, then turned and stared straight ahead while Jeb tried to reprogram the GPS.

The GPS, by the way, was _still_ telling us to make U-turns on the freeway.

And then it got even worse when Gazzy started mimicking the GPS.

"Take the 405 North, on right," the GPS said.

"Okay," Jeb agreed, turning onto the freeway.

"Recalculating," the GPS insisted.

"WHAT?" we all yelled. Then I noticed Gazzy snickering in the back seat.

"You stop that!" I ordered. "Or we'll never get home!"

"Fine by me," Nudge replied with a shrug.

"UGH!" I yelled, crossing my arms over my chest.

~~::~~

"Alright, kids, here we are," Jeb said. I looked around.

"Jeb, this is a gas station," I replied slowly. "And we don't live at a gas station."

He laughed, handing me a twenty-dollar bill. "If you want, you can go inside the store and pick out some snacks." He pointed to a 7-11 that was next to the gas station.

"Snacks?" Nudge asked, looking up from the manicure she was giving herself. Somehow, she'd found nail polish in California and had bought some. Great souvenir, right?

"Yeah," I said, climbing out of the car. Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy followed. Fang was too busy being boring in the front seat, and Angel was taking a nap.

We headed inside. "Max, can I get a Slurpee?" Gazzy asked.

"Can I – MAGAZINES!" Nudge squealed, running over to a magazine rack and picking up some fashion magazine which, if you ask me, she was way too young for.

"Nope," I replied, ripping it out of her hands and tossing it back on the rack. The employee at the counter looked up and gave us some weird looks, but I ignored him.

Gazzy and Iggy ran up to us, their arms full of candy. "Can we get all of this?"

I looked at the twenty in my hand and then back at them, and grinned. "Duh."

After running though 7-11 and grabbing plenty of junk food, sodas, and whatever else we could find, we headed over to the lone employee, loaded down with snacks.

He looked us up and down, not saying anything.

"Um…we'd like to buy this," I announced, dumping my pile of snacks on the counter.

"You kids able to pay for that?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"Yeah," I told him, holding out the twenty-dollar bill.

Suddenly, his frown changed to a grin. I gasped.

Instead of having normal human teeth, the guy had sharp, wolf-like teeth.

"What?" Iggy asked, sounding both annoyed and afraid.

"E-e-Eraser!" Nudge screamed, dropping her heap of candy on the ground and booking it for the door, Gazzy practically glued to her. I grabbed Iggy's hand and dashed after them.

"Not so fast," the Eraser said, morphing into his wolf form.

Nudge yanked on the door. "Locked," she whispered in terror.

"Crap," I muttered, looking around for anything that could possibly break the door. Unfortunately, magazines and candy did not seem to be very helpful there.

The Eraser leaped over the counter, rushing at us. Nudge screamed and I yanked her and Gazzy away from the door, just as the Eraser smashed into it, sending glass everywhere.

"Go!" I yelled, shoving the others through the now-smashed door.

The Eraser was standing outside, barely harmed.

"There you are!" he said, his face twisted in a nasty grin. "You're mine now!"

"I don't think so!" I shouted, glancing towards the car. We could make it.

"Run for the car. Get in. Do not stop," I hissed in Gazzy and Nudge's ear. They nodded, just as the Eraser lunged at us.

Fang was unhelpfully sleeping in the front seat of the car. "Fang!" I screamed as we raced towards the car. "Wake up!"

He did not wake up.

I yanked the door open, shoved Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy inside, and climbed in, just as Jeb got into the front seat.

"You kids didn't want any snacks?" he asked, turning to face us.

"Jeb!Eraser!" I yelled, pointing. His eyes widened as he turned the engine on. "Everyone hold on!" Our car tore out of the gas station, narrowly missing the Eraser. He chased after us, but eventually couldn't keep up.

With the help of our trusty GPS (not), we were back on the freeway and heading home.

"That was really close," Nudge said. The four of us were still out of breath.

"How do they keep finding us?" Iggy asked, frowning.

Jeb shook his head. "I'm not sure. That's a tough question to answer."

I bit my lip. "Jeb, you used to work for the School. Wouldn't you know about things like that?"

He paused, then replied, "Max, I'm not really sure-"

That was when Fang finally decided to wake up. He looked back at us, a slight frown on his face as usual.

"Didn't you save any snacks for me?" he asked.

I glanced at Iggy, Nudge, and Gazzy, and we all burst out laughing.

"Well," I told Fang. "We _did_ try to wake you up."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Do we have to go back to school?" Gazzy whined.

Nudge nodded. "Yeah! That's not fair! Let's go back on vacation!"

I definitely wasn't looking forward to going back to fifth grade. Now I had to deal with Jaz, homework, Mrs. Jenkins, our weird principal…oh, and did I mention Jaz?

Jeb shook his head. "You need to learn things. Learning is important."

I rolled my eyes at him, as if to say, _Why did you take us on vacation if we're supposed to be learning?_

We trudged to the bus stop. My backpack felt heavier than ever as I thought about all the homework I hadn't bothered to do. Not because I cared about homework or anything – but Mrs. Jenkins would probably send me right to the principal.

"Have a good day!" Jeb called from our porch, waving.

I glared at him. "Yeah, right."

When the bus pulled up at our stop, Jaz wasted no time launching herself off the bus and right at Fang.

"Hi, Fnick!" she cried, wrapping her arms around him. "I missed you! You were gone for so long and I thought maybe you were dead and I'd never see you again and-"

"Oh god," I muttered. "Kill me now."

Luckily, Jaz was interrupted by the bus driver. "Come on!" he yelled, honking the horn. "Don't keep me waiting!"

We piled onto the bus. I made sure to stay as far away from Jaz as possible, pulling Iggy into a seat towards the back. Gazzy and Nudge sat in front of us.

"Well," I said, sighing. "We get to deal with our best friend Jaz again."

"She's not too bad," Nudge replied with a shrug.

I stared at her. "Not too bad? Did you see the way she practically attacked Fang?"

Iggy frowned. "What's the matter with that?"

"I told you," Nudge said. "Max liiiikes Fang."

"What?" Once again, my face was turning red. "Not true, Nudge! Stop making things up!"

"Don't try to hide it," Nudge teased.

"Hide what?" I yelled. "I DON'T LIKE FANG!"

Unfortunately, I yelled this loud enough for the entire bus to hear – especially Jaz and Fang, who were sitting right in the front.

My face started turning red again.

"Oops," Gazzy remarked with a mischievous smile.

~~::~~

"Stupid Nudge and her…stupidness," I grumbled later in class as Mrs. Jenkins handed out a math worksheet.

"What?" Iggy asked as I took two worksheets, one for him and one for me.

"Nothing," I muttered, yanking a pencil out of my backpack. "Okay, what's 30 times 52?"

Iggy sighed. "I don't know."

"Me neither," I replied, with a shrug. I glanced around at everyone. They seemed like they knew what to do. Except of course, I had never learned how to multiply big numbers.

Well, I actually couldn't multiply at all, but don't tell Mrs. Jenkins that. Normally, I just guessed. I was pretty sure I had an F in math.

"Let's see….I'll go with 18," I said.

"It can't possibly be 18," Iggy told me.

"Yeah?" I asked, frowning. "Well, if you're so smart, you do it!"

"I can't see the dumb paper!" he whispered, sounding annoyed.

I sighed in exasperation. "Okay. 's 21 times 13?"

"Hmmm…" Iggy trailed off, tapping his pencil against his chin. "34?"

"Okay," I said, writing it down on both of our papers.

"Time's up!" Mrs. Jenkins yelled, practically in my ear.

"Aah!" I yelled, and almost everyone in our class laughed. Mrs. Jenkins did not.

"Please trade with a partner and grade," she ordered. I grinned at Iggy and grabbed his paper.

She started reading off numbers. Iggy started doodling on the paper, not paying attention. Why would he need to pay attention? I started zoning out too.

"Please right the percent on the top of the paper," Mrs. Jenkins was suddenly saying.

"One hundred percent!" I told Iggy with a smile, writing it on top of his paper. He did the same for me, in a messy, illegible scribble.

We'd only answered two of the questions, and both of them had been wrong.

~~::~~

"Alright, class! Field trip!" Mrs. Jenkins announced.

I wrinkled my nose. "Field trip? What do they expect us to do on a field trip? What's a field trip?"

"I think it means you trip in fields," Iggy whispered.

I shook my head. "I don't want to go, then."

Mrs. Jenkins, who'd overheard us, of course, proclaimed, "Everyone is going. It is mandatory."

Jaz's hand shot up, and I frowned at her. "Where are we going on our field trip?" she asked with one of her trademark smiles.

"To an art museum," Mrs. Jenkins responded.

"A fart museum?" Iggy asked, sounding thrilled. I snickered.

Mrs. Jenkins started handing out papers again. "These are your permission slips," she said.

"Slips….field trips… someone really wants us to get hurt," I whispered to Iggy, who laughed.

Mrs. Jenkins whirled to face us. "Max? Jeff? Would you like to visit the principal again?"

"No thanks!" I responded.

She arched an eyebrow. "Then I recommend being quiet."

"Aye aye, captain!" I said, saluting her when she turned her back. Iggy covered his mouth with his hands to stifle his laughing.

Finally, the bell rang, signaling that school was over for the day. I grabbed Iggy's hand, practically dragging him towards the door. Unfortunately, we were stopped by Jaz.

"Hi!" she said, doing that weird smile of hers again.

"Uh…hi," I replied, making a face at her.

She looked back and forth between me and Iggy. I realized I was still holding his hand.

"You and Iggy look cute together," she said, leaning in close towards my face.

I pulled backwards, away from her. "Uh…what?"

"I said, you guys look cute together," she repeated. That dumb smile was still on her face.

"Um…." I trailed off. "WellIgottagocatchabussotalkt oyoulaterbye!" Then I booked it out of there, pulling Iggy along behind me.

When we were sitting on the bus (in the back, where hopefully Jaz would not find us) I looked at Iggy, who had this huge smile on his face too.

"What?" I asked. Was smiling contagious or something?

He just kept smiling. "Nothing."

I smiled too. "Right. Nothing?"

"Nothing," he repeated, laughing.

I started laughing too.

"What's so funny, anyway?" Nudge asked as she headed towards us, pulling Gazzy behind her.

"Nothing," Iggy responded with another laugh.

Nudge just rolled her eyes.

"You guys are so weird."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Today's our field trip!" Iggy yelled happily as we sat at the table one week later, eating breakfast. I laughed. "Yep."

Fang rolled his eyes. I stuck my tongue out at him. "What, you don't like art museums?" I asked.

"Don't you like fart museums?" Gazzy shouted from across the table, spewing his cereal everywhere.

"Ew, gross!" Nudge shrieked. Angel started laughing, and Gazzy started making weird faces at her, which made her laugh even harder. That made all of us laugh, except for Fang, who was apparently trying to be emo.

"Don't you ever smile?" I asked, poking him.

He swatted my hand away. "Be quiet."

I smirked. "Make me." He just rolled his eyes again and looked away.

Pretty soon, we were all at school, going our separate and Nudge said goodbye and headed off to class, while Iggy, Fang, Jaz (unfortunately, she'd been clinging to Fang for the entire morning), and I climbed onto the bus that would be taking us to the museum.

"This is going to be so cool!" Iggy said excitedly. "I've never been on a field trip before!"

"Me neither," I replied with a laugh.

"You haven't?" Jaz's head popped up from the seat in front of us.

I groaned. "Jaz, go away."

She frowned sadly. "Awwww, do I have to?"

"YES!" I yelled, shoving her head back down. We'd gotten here late, and the only seats had been in the front, which left me and Iggy with Jaz and Fang.

I sighed. "She's so annoying."

"Who's annoying?" Jaz asked, her head popping up again.

"YOU!" I shouted.

Mrs. Jenkins came running over. "Max, we do not yell in the fifth grade."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, send me to the principal?"

Mrs. Jenkins frowned. "I've got my eye on you, Miss Ride."

"I'm so scared," I whispered to Iggy as our weirdo teacher walked away.

~~::~~

"Guess what, Fnick? My mom made cookies! And do you know what? I got to help her make them and I cut them out in shapes and guess what shapes I made?"

"What?" Fang replied in a bored tone. We were still on the incredibly boring bus ride of boringness.

"I made heart-shaped cookies! To show my love for you!" Jaz proclaimed, yanking a big bag of cookies out of her backpack.

I groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Jaz overheard my comment and turned around. "What's wrong with making cookies for Fang? He's the love of my life."

I stood up and looked her right in the eyes. "You're eleven. I don't think you know what you're talking about."

"I love him," she hissed.

I sat down, crossing my arms over my chest. "Fine. Have fun with your true love."

"I will!" she said.

"Fine!" I yelled.

"Fine!" she yelled back even louder.

"We don't yell in the fifth grade," Iggy whispered, and I started cracking up.

Jaz was still giving me the evil glare when the bus stopped in front of a big fancy building.

"Please stay with a buddy and get off the bus in an orderly fashion!" Mrs. Jenkins ordered.

Of course, there was a lot of pushing and shoving and yelling as everyone tried to get off the boring bus at the same time.

"Move it!" Jaz yelled at me. Iggy was holding my hand tightly. I didn't blame him – I might lose him if I let go of his hand.

"You move it!" I shouted back at her.

"You're in front of me!" she yelled.

"Well…you're stupid!" I yelled back. I would think of better insults later.

Finally I managed to get off the bus, ditching Fang and Jaz. We headed into the art museum, and Mrs. Jenkins told us to split up, but to stay in small groups.

"Take notes on the art that you see. You will write a small description for five pieces of art," she commanded.

Everyone moaned.

I looked for Fang and Jaz. They went towards the right, so I went towards the left, trying to stay as far from them as I could.

"Okay," I said, looking around. "Art. There's some art," I murmured, peering at a painting on a wall nearby.

"Hmmm," I mused, leaning in to touch it. "Looks….art-ish."

"Hey! Don't touch that!" an employee yelled, running over. I backed up. "Okay, okay! Sorry!" How was I supposed to know not to touch it? A few other kids in our class gave me weird looks.

"See anything interesting?" I asked, turning to Iggy.

His voice turned cold. "No."

I bit my lip. "Iggy, I…." I trailed off, not really knowing what to say. "Come on, let's go to another section. This art is boring, anyway."

"Like where?" Iggy asked, a steely edge to his voice. "What am I supposed to do? 'Hey Mrs. Jenkins, I felt this painting, and it felt interesting.' I can't do that."

I sighed. "Um…" Then I had an idea. "Who needs stupid art? Come on, let's go," I said, grabbing his arm.

He turned to face me. "Where are we going?"

I grinned. "It's a surprise."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Max, where are we going?" Iggy asked as I practically dragged him up flight after flight of stairs.

I laughed. "I told you, it's a surprise."

"I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to-" Iggy started, but I cut him off.

"We're here," I proclaimed quietly, opening the door to the roof.

"Um…Max? We shouldn't be up here," he told me.

I grinned. "Who cares? Since when have you been afraid to break the rules, anyway?"

He smiled. "Right. So, what's your big plan?"

Silently, I unfurled my wings. Iggy heard, and his face lit up.

"We are not ditching the field trip," he said, but it was clear that he wanted to leave. His expression said so.

"Oh, we are," I said, letting go of his hand and leaping off the roof of the building, beating my wings hard to stay aloft. Iggy was right behind me.

"Where are we going?" he yelled over the wind as we soared higher.

I laughed. "Anywhere!"

"I'm good with that!" he called back.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. It felt like forever since I'd been up here in the sky, flying and doing what I was made to do.

After a few minutes, I looked back at Iggy, who was following close behind me.

"Having fun?" I asked, grinning.

"Oh yeah!" he yelled over the wind. "So much better than some dumb field trip!"

"That's for sure," I called, looking downwards. We were high over some city.

"Hey, let's go have some more fun!" I added, grabbing Iggy's hand and pulling him downwards. "Follow me!"

"Where are going?" Iggy yelled, but I ignored him for now, swooping downwards towards the city below.

I landed behind a huge building, glancing around as I carefully folded my wings in and zipped up my jacket. A few seconds later, Iggy did the same.

"Where are we?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I dunno." I peered around the corner of the building, then pulled him after me. "Come on."

"You don't know where we are?" Iggy was asking in an annoyed tone, but I tuned him out as I headed towards the front of the building.

Looking up at the letters on top of the building, I realized it was the mall.

"Awesome," I muttered. Of course we had to end up at the mall, which was one of my least favorite places in the world.

"Where are we?" Iggy repeated.

"Mall," I told him, frowning.

He rolled his eyes. "The mall? I thought you hated the mall. Is Jaz rubbing off on you or something?"

I shook my head. "Whatever. Let's get something to eat. I bet there's a food court around here or something."

People gave us weird looks when we walked into the mall, probably wondering what two weird-looking kids were doing in the mall in the middle of a school day.

That was when I spotted the food court.

"I smell French fries," Iggy said, grinning. "Smells much better than our school lunches."

I laughed. "Oh yeah." I practically ran up the escalator, dragging Iggy behind me.

"Okay. Take your pick," I told Iggy when we got to the top, describing all the places to eat. There was a McDonalds, a pizza place, some Chinese restaurant, Baskin Robbins, and a Subway.

Iggy smiled. "Can we get ice cream for lunch?"

"Duh!" I responded, heading over to the Baskin Robbins counter.

"Do they have cookie dough?" Iggy asked, and I nodded. "Mm hm."

He grinned, then looked at the lady at the counter, who had an extremely bored expression on her face. "I'll have four scoops of that."

"Okay," she muttered, scooping ice cream onto a cone very, very slowly. I rolled my eyes and started humming the Jeopardy song. Iggy started cracking up.

"Here you go," the lady said, handing the cone to me. I gave it to Iggy.

"Anything else?" she added in her monotone voice.

"I'll have the same," I replied, wondering if it would take her an hour to scoop the ice cream or something.

After I got my ice cream, the lady rang us up. Iggy had already eaten half of his ice cream by then.

"That will be ten dollars," she told me.

That was when I realized something pretty important. "Um… I don't exactly have any money?" I offered.

She narrowed her eyes, then reached out and swiped the ice cream from our hands. "Then leave!"

I gave her my best glare. "Fine, we will!" I shouted, grabbing Iggy's hand and marching away.

"That ice cream was good," Iggy whispered as we walked away. I started laughing again, until I noticed a very familiar man standing across the food court.

"Crap," I muttered, pulling Iggy under a big table.

"What?" he asked. "Erasers?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head. I peered out to see if Mr. Robin was still there. He was. "It's our principal."

"Maybe he'll give us candy," Iggy said hopefully, and I smacked him. "Ow!"

"Don't draw attention to us," I hissed.

"Right," Iggy muttered. "Because nothing draws attention like two kids ditching school and hiding under a table in the food court of a mall."

I smacked him again.

Mr. Robin was heading our way with a tray full of McDonald's food. My stomach rumbled.

"He's coming," I whispered.

"Let's run!" Iggy hissed at me. I held him back. "No! He'll see us! We'll get detention for life!"

I heard a chair scraping on the floor, and before I knew it, Mr. Robin was sitting right at the very table we were hiding under.

"Crap," I repeated in a low voice.

"Is he the one sitting there?" Iggy whispered.

"Yeah," I whispered back, trying to figure out an escape plan. Maybe we could run while Mr. Robin was distracted with eating his food.

Then a phone started ringing. It was Mr. Robin's.

"Hello?" I heard him say. A pause followed, to which he replied, "I told you, I'm working on it!"

"Working on what?" Iggy whispered.

I elbowed him. "Shhh!"

"Yes, I understand," Mr. Robin was saying. "You will receive the subjects soon. Give me some time."

My eyes widened. What was he talking about? I glanced at Iggy, who had gone completely still.

"Alright, goodbye," Mr. Robin continued. I heard his phone snap shut, and then I saw him stand up and walk away.

I pulled Iggy out from under the table. "Do you know what this means?"

"That some fat old guy practically put his feet on my face?" Iggy replied.

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "No! It means…." I paused. "It means Mr. Robin is one of _them_."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"We have to get back! We have to warn everyone!" I decided, grabbing Iggy's hand and booking it out of the mall.

"Max, calm down!" he yelled as we ran – well, more like I dragged him behind me. "Maybe we heard him wrong. Mr. Robin probably isn't even evil."

I whirled to face him. "Iggy, I'm the leader. I know these things. Come on." With that, I snapped out my wings and got a running takeoff, right there in the middle of the parking lot. Iggy sighed, but he followed close behind me.

Soon, I spotted a bright yellow school bus below me, next to a large building – the museum.

"Ssh," I whispered to Iggy as we landed behind the museum, pulling my wings in and tip-toeing towards the museum entrance.

"We're going to sneak in. I bet they didn't even notice we were gone," I told Iggy confidently with a dismissive wave of my hand.

"What did you say, Miss Ride?" a very familiar voice said from behind me.

"AAH!" I yelled, startled. I turned to see Mrs. Jenkins standing right there, hands on her hips and a very angry expression on her face. I half-expected steam to come pouring out of her ears like in those cartoons I watched with Gazzy.

"You two are in a whole mess of trouble," was Mrs. Jenkins' response.

I mirrored her pose. "We didn't do anything."

"You snuck out, ditching the field trip and your classmates," Mrs. Jenkins replied. "Is there any reason I shouldn't give you detention for the next month?"

"Because we're irresistibly cute and charming?" I tried.

One corner of her mouth twitched. "Detention for the next two months," she ordered.

"Aw man!" Iggy complained.

I frowned. "Great. Just great."

~~::~~

"Have I ever told you how much I hate this school?" I muttered under my breath as I wrote what felt like the one millionth sentence of _I will not ditch school_. My hand felt like it was just going to fall off any second.

"I believe you have," Iggy said with a sigh. "About fifty zillion times in the past ten minutes." He went back to cleaning desks, which he wasn't really that good at. I mean, how is a blind kid supposed to clean things?

I frowned and continued writing.

I will not ditch school.

I will not ditch school.

I will…..

"This sucks!" I yelled, throwing my pen across the room. It almost hit Iggy.

"Watch it!" he yelled back. "You can see, can't you?"

I sighed, crumpling my paper into a ball. We were alone in the classroom – we had been for the past half hour. The lady in charge of detention got up to get some coffee and never came back.

Suddenly, the door opened and someone else came in. Two somebodies, actually.

"Nudge?" I asked in surprise. "Gazzy? What are you doing here?"

Nudge sighed, dropping her hot pink backpack onto the floor and slumping into one of the seats. "We got in trouble."

"Oh, I thought you came in because you wanted to have a party with us," I replied sarcastically.

Nudge sat up. "Yeah, that's it! A party! A detention party!"

"I don't think that's such a great idea-" I began, but Nudge was already going through her backpack. "I brought snacks!" she declared, opening her Hello Kitty lunch box.

I peered inside. "Great. A half-eaten sandwich and some carrots."

"Yum!"Gazzy yelled, grabbing the carrots and scarfing them down.

"Let's do something fun! Like play a party game!" Nudge decided.

"Like what?" Iggy asked, frowning. "Duck Duck Goose?"

"Yeah!"Gazzy cheered.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "I didn't really mean that…"

A minute later, we were sitting in a circle – well, more like a triangle. "Duck….duck….duck," Gazzy said, walking around us and tapping our heads.

"Okay, okay, just pick someone," I muttered, still not into the idea of a 'detention party'.

"Carrots, broccoli, apples, bananas," Gazzy went on, still walking around us.

"I hate this game," Iggy complained.

"Marshmallows, ice cream, cookies," Gazzy continued, pretty much oblivious.

"GOOSE!" I yelled, standing up and grabbing Gazzy. "Sorry, you're in the mush pot," I declared, setting him down.

"Cheater! Max is a cheater!" Nudge yelled, and Gazzy leaped up again, chanting, "Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Okay, I'm a cheater. How did you guys get detention, anyway?"

Nudge smiled. "I was painting my nails in class."

I gaped at her. "That's it?"

"I stole a cookie from this one kid's lunch," Gazzy offered.

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are such weirdos."

"That's why you love us!" Gazzy proclaimed, gathering us together in a group hug.

~~::~~

After all of that craziness, I wasn't reminded about our principal until much later.

"Guys. Flock meeting after dinner," I murmured under my breath as we sat at the table, eating spaghetti that Iggy had made. He was actually a really good cook, and Jeb was helping him with all kinds of recipes.

Fang nodded, and so did Iggy and Nudge. Gazzy yelled, "Max, what's the flock meeting about?"

I facepalmed while Jeb looked up from the other end of the table. "Flock meeting?"

Iggy nodded. "Uh… yeah. We're thinking about getting…uh…. we're having a meeting about, uh…"

"We were just going to help each other study for tests," I answered quickly, shooting a look at Iggy, which was lost on him.

"I see," Jeb replied, and went back to eating his pasta. I sighed in relief.

Ten minutes later, we were in my room, ready to start the flock meeting. Gazzy was sprawled on the floor, Angel sitting next to him. Fang was sitting on my bed next to Iggy, and Nudge was running around babbling about how my wardrobe needed a makeover.

"Okay, okay," I said. "Flock meeting come to order or whatever."

Iggy snickered. "I'm glaring at you, Ig," I told him, and went on.

"Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, our principal is possibly evil and works for the School."

Stunned silence followed that statement. Fang was the first to break the silence. "How'd you decide that?"

"Iggy and I overheard him talking about us, earlier today when we went to the mall," I explained.

"Oooh, a date!" Nudge said dreamily. My face went red, and so did Iggy's.

"It wasn't a date!" I yelled at Nudge.

"It wasn't?" Iggy sounded confused.

"NO!" I insisted. We were too young to be dating!

"Okay, anyway," Fang said. "So what did he say?"

"Something like 'I will give you the subjects'," I told them in my best imitation of Mr. Robin's voice.

Fang just stared at me. "That's it?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Yes, it is actually. I'd like to see you do a better job of being the leader."

He stood up, his face close to mine. "Maybe I will."

"Fine!" I shouted at him.

"Fine!" he yelled back.

I put my hands on my hips. "There you go. Fang's the leader now." Nudge stared at me, eyes wide. Gazzy's mouth dropped open.

_He's not going to last a day,_ I thought to myself, smirking.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Max! Max MaxMaxMax!" a frantic voice cried, waking me up the next morning. I squinted at whoever had just invaded my room.

"Nudge? What's the problem?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. "What time is it?"

"We're going to be late for school!" Nudge complained. "Why didn't you wake us up? We're still trying to get Gazzy out of bed!"

I yawned, slowly standing up. "Not my problem, remember? Why don't you ask Fang? He's the new flock leader, after all."

"Maaaaax," Nudge started to whine again, but I shoved her out of my room and quickly dressed.

When I walked downstairs for breakfast, Nudge was going ballistic. Fang was just sitting there eating a bowl of cereal, looking completely oblivious, and Iggy was covering his ears with his hands.

"Max always wakes us up on time for school!" she was yelling at Fang. "We're going to be late!"

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, it's okay. The bus doesn't leave until…" That was when I glanced at the clock.

The bus was coming in two minutes. I was about ready to grab everyone and throw them out the door, screaming, "Move movemove!" until I realized that was Fang's job now.

So I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the kitchen counter, waiting to see what he'd do.

Gazzy walked into the kitchen, still in his Spiderman pajamas and clearly half-asleep. "Morning," he murmured.

"Morning," I replied, ruffling his hair.

"Guys! We have to go!" Nudge was screaming, standing at the door with her pink backpack slung over one shoulder. "The bus is here!"

Fang calmly stood up and put his bowl into the sink. "Okay. Let's go."

Nudge sighed. "Now you say that!" She grabbed Gazzy's arm. "Come on!"

"I'm still in my pajamas!" he complained.

"Change when you get to school," Nudge responded, shoving his backpack at him.

In the end, we didn't even come close to catching the bus. When Fang finally managed to get everyone out the door, the bus drove away.

"Greaaaaat," Nudge whined. "We're so dead."

I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at Fang. "What's your plan now, Flock Leader?"

Silently, Fang unfurled his wings.

"We fly."

~~::~~

"I like the new flock transportation!" Iggy called as we zoomed towards the school.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, Fang is such a great leader. He can't get everyone up in time for school."

Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to disagree.

"Let's do this every day!" Nudge squealed happily, flying over me.

"So much better than that dumb old bus," Gazzy agreed.

By the time we landed behind the school, I wasn't in a very good mood. "Have a good day," I told Gazzy and Nudge as they headed towards their classes, their hair a mess from the wind.

"Bye!" Gazzy called, and they disappeared down the hall. Just as the bell rang, of course.

"Oh, look. We're late," I said with a pointed look at Fang.

He just shrugged as I yanked the door open to our classroom. Everyone looked at us as we walked inside.

"Maxine and Jeff, you decided to join us today?" Mrs. Jenkins asked as we took our seats. A few kids laughed. Of course, everyone had found out about the whole 'ditching the field trip' thing.

"My name's Max," I grumbled as I pulled out my notebook.

"Today, we are going to be studying the…." Mrs. Jenkins began, and I started tuning her out, as usual. Maybe if I just failed all my classes, Jeb wouldn't make me go back to school.

Why had I ever agreed to let Fang be the leader? Everyone seemed to want him to be the leader permanently now.

_I'm such an idiot!_ I thought, wanting to bang my head against something.

Sneaking a look over at Fang, I saw Jaz whispering something in my ear. They both looked over at me, and Fang cracked a smile.

My fists clenched and I did my best scowl at them.

"Miss Ride?" Mrs. Jenkins' voice brought me back to reality.

I turned to face her. "Uh, yes sir? Ma'am! I mean ma'am!"

A whole bunch of kids started laughing. Mrs. Jenkins looked a little red in the face, but she persisted with her question.

"Maxine, what is the answer?"

"Uh….what is the question?" I tried, still annoyed at her calling me by the wrong name, but she just frowned.

"Miss Ride, I'm waiting."

I bit my lip, trying to remember what she'd just been talking about. Only I hadn't been paying any attention, of course.

"Iggy, what's the answer?" I whispered.

"How would I know?" Iggy responded. "I never pay attention."

I snickered. "Me neither."

"Miss Ride, kindly give me the answer or I will send you to Mr. Robin." Oops, I had forgotten Mrs. Jenkins was still there. Going to the principal's office was about the last thing I wanted to do, so I quickly said, "Is it….24?"

Everyone burst out laughing, but one look from Mrs. Jenkins silenced them. "Maxine Ride, we are doing history, not mathematics. Do you enjoy making a mockery of my class?"

"Uh huh!" I responded, before I could stop myself.

Her face hardened. "Then I'm sure you would enjoy talking to Mr. Robin about that. Kindly exit my classroom, now."

"Mrs. Jenkins, you can't send Max to the principal!" Iggy suddenly blurted out, and I stared at him.

Mrs. Jenkins smiled, but it was cruel smile. "Then perhaps you'd like to talk to him, as well."

~~::~~

"This sucks," I muttered, kicking at the wall.

"Yep," Iggy agreed with a sigh.

"Mr. Robin's going to kill us!" I yelled, putting my hands on Iggy's shoulders. "He's going to take us to the School!"

"Then we need to stop him!" Iggy decided, balling his hands into fists. "So he won't hurt anyone!"

"But… Fang's the leader now," I murmured, looking at the ground. "That's his job."

Iggy frowned. "Max, Fang's not the real leader. You're the only leader of the flock. You're the only person that will ever be the leader."

I glanced over at him. "Well, then why do Gazzy and Nudge think Fang's so great? Even Angel probably thinks so, and she's only three!"

Iggy reached over and took my hand. "But we all know who the real leader is," he said. "You."

I opened my mouth to say more, but that was when the office lady said, "Mr. Robin will see you now."

Iggy squeezed my hand, and I nodded. "Let's do this," I murmured, and then we walked into the principal's office together.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

When Iggy and I walked into Mr. Robin's office, he was sitting in his chair, with his back turned to us.

"Maximum Ride," he said, turning to face us. "I have been waiting for you."

Despite my fear and my concerns that our principal wanted us dead, I had to laugh. What movie did he copy that from?

Mr. Robin frowned. "Maximum Ride, is something…..funny?"

I quickly stopped laughing. My fist clenched. "No."

Mr. Robin smiled, but it was more like an evil smile than an I-want-to-be-a-nice-principal smile.

Then before I knew what was happening, three Erasers dropped down from the ceiling, snarling, their teeth bared at us.

"Crap!" I yelled as they lunged at Iggy and me.

"Erasers?" I heard Iggy shout, but I didn't have time to answer him because I was too busy trying to yank him out of the prinicipal's office.

Too late. An Eraser was blocking the door. "Going somewhere?" he asked with a laugh, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yes!" I yelled, roundhouse kicking him right in the chest, causing him to stagger backwards, right into the door, which smashed it off the hinges.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an Eraser slamming his fist right into Iggy's stomach.

"Iggy!" I screamed, right as one of the Erasers pinned him to the ground and another kicked me, right in the chest.

I felt the air rush out of my lungs as I stumbled backwards. Then I surged forward, leaping right at the Eraser and punching him hard, right in the face. He barely seemed to flinch, then raked his claws down the side of my face.

I winced, taking deep, shaky breaths, and then despite my pain, I kicked him right in the spine, finally causing him to crumple.

I spun, looking for Iggy. He still pinned to the ground, and the Eraser was punching him over and over again. Iggy looked like he was about to pass out.

Quick as lightning, I hurled myself towards the Eraser that had Iggy pinned down.

"Get away from my friend!" I screamed, grabbing a potted plant off of Mr. Robin's desk and bringing it down, right on the Eraser's head.

It distracted him for a second, and that was when I grabbed Iggy, yanking him away from the Eraser and towards the now-smashed door.

"Go! Go!" I shouted, holding on tightly to Iggy's hand as we ran down the hall.

"Where are we going?" Iggy called as I ran up a flight of stairs.

"The roof!" I yelled back. They wouldn't be able to get us from up there- looking behind me for a split second, I saw we were being pursued by Mr. Robin.

I reached the top floor, running as fast as I could towards the door that led to the roof. Pushing it open, Iggy and I burst out the door.

"Stop right there!" Mr. Robin yelled.

"Yeah right," I muttered under my breath, running to the edge of the roof, pulling Iggy behind me. My lungs were aching and my legs were burning, but I didn't stop.

"What now?" Iggy yelled. Blood was running down the side of his face.

Silently, I let go of his hand. "Count of three," I told Iggy. Of course, that really meant count of one.

He nodded.

I took a deep breath – and then, I leaped.

Mr. Robin was right behind us.

~~::~~

I'm not sure Mr. Robin knew it wasn't smart to jump off four-story buildings if you didn't have wings. Or maybe he was just consumed by the desire to capture us.

Either way, long after the ambulances left, Iggy and I climbed down from the tree we were sitting in. Were the Erasers still passed out in Mr. Robin's office, or had they disappeared? I wasn't so sure I wanted to check.

Iggy was grinning. I gave him a look. "Why are you so happy?"

He laughed. "Max, we did it! Mr. Robin's dead!"

I arched an eyebrow. "Uh….he's not dead. I'm pretty sure he just broke his neck. And both a million other things."

Iggy shrugged. "Okay, okay. Whatever. He's not coming back anytime soon!"

Slowly, I smiled. "Yeah…you're right! We did it!" I threw my arms around him in a hug, but he winced.

I quickly moved backwards. "Ig…. are you okay?"

He nodded. "Oh. Yeah, I am." His face was covered in now-dry blood, but other than that, he didn't seem to hurt too badly. "Are you?"

"Huh?" I nodded. "Yeah. You're sure you don't have a broken nose or anything?"

He laughed. "Max, seriously, I'm fine. You're the leader, not my mom."

I frowned at him. "Fang's the leader, remember?"

Iggy sighed. "Max, you're the leader. No one else. I mean, you don't see Fang taking on three Erasers at once, right?"

I laughed. "Yeah…. I guess."

Iggy smiled. "Come on. We have a class to get back to."

Of course, that was when the bell rang, signaling that class was over. Kids came rushing out the door, laughing and smiling. Nudge and Gazzy were two of them.

When Nudge saw our faces though, her eyes widened. "Oh my god! What happened?"

"Are you guys okay?" Gazzy asked, his big blue eyes looking very concerned.

I smiled, which probably just looked gruesome, what with all the blood. "Don't worry. It's okay."

"Is everything alright?" Nudge asked. "Because we could call Jeb and go to the hospital, and how did you even get like that? Did you fall off of something? Or what?"

I laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Mr. Robin's gone. And don't worry, we're okay. Everything's going to be just fine from now on."


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Later that night, I waited for Fang to call a flock meeting so we could talk about our evil principal being gone, hopefully for good.

Finally, at dinner, I cracked. "Okay, flock meeting!" I ordered, standing up.

Fang frowned. "You're not the leader."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, . Flock meeting right now."

If he was annoyed, Fang didn't show it. Then again, Fang doesn't really show very much emotion about anything.

We gathered in my room, five minutes later. "Alright," I said. "We have some important business to discuss," I announced, trying to sound all formal.

"Okay," Fang said, frowning. Alright, so maybe he did seem a little annoyed at me for stealing his job.

"As you all know except for Fang, Mr. Robin is gone," I went on, smiling. "Iggy and I got rid of him."

"Right," Iggy said. "We were sent to his office, when all of a sudden, these Erasers come out of nowhere and start attacking us. If that isn't proof that he's evil, I don't know what is. I mean, you're not supposed to trust people who give you free candy, right?"

"And now he's gone!" Nudge piped up. "Max says that he jumped off the roof!"

I laughed. "Well, yeah. Um, kind of." Quickly, I filled Fang in on the rest of the details.

"So he's not dead," Fang said.

I nodded. "Yeah. He won't be back for a while, though. I think he broke every bone in his body."

Gazzy grinned. "Goodbye, evil principal!" Nudge laughed, and Iggy was smiling too.

Only Fang seemed unconvinced. "Isn't it still dangerous?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "We got rid of the evil dude! How can there still be danger?"

Fang stood up. "We should leave."

"Wait….what do you mean, leave?" Nudge shrieked, standing up on my bed. "We can't leave! I like it here! We all do!"

Gazzy nodded. "I mean, Mr. Robin's gone! Everything is going to be okay! That's what Max said!" he added, pointing at me.

Fang frowned, looking at me. "Max isn't the leader anymore."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, leaning in closer to him. "You wanna see who the real leader is?" I turned and faced the rest of the flock.

"Guys, who's the leader here?"

"MAX!" Iggy yelled, and Gazzy and Nudge echoed him. "Max! Max! Max!"

I smirked at Fang. "Sorry. It looks like they like me better."

Fang rolled his eyes, but didn't object. "Okay, fine. Max is the leader."

The others cheered, and I turned to grin at the rest of the flock. _My_ flock.

~~::~~

Days went by after that, and days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.

And suddenly, before we knew it, December had arrived.

"Where's the snow?" Gazzy complained, looking out the window. "I want it to snow!"

I laughed, ruffling his hair. "I'm sure it will snow soon."

"But it's almost Christmas and there's no snow!" he whined. "We need snow for Christmas!"

"Yeah!" Nudge agreed. She was sitting at the table, eating breakfast. "And we can make cookies and hot chocolate and Santa will come!"

"Right," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "Santa."

"Santa doesn't exist!" Iggy yelled, laughing.

Nudge gasped. "How could you say that? Santa exists!"

"Oh yeah," Iggy replied. "I guess the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy exist too?"

"Duh!"Gazzy responded.

I laughed. "Gazzy, come eat your breakfast. We have to get to school."

"Not until you admit Santa exists!" Gazzy yelled.

Well, Gazzy ended up not eating breakfast that morning. We made it to the bus stop just in time. Despite the lack of snow, Colorado was freaking cold in December, and we were bundled up in scarves, jackets, and boots. Nudge, of course, had an all-pink outfit, which gave me a headache.

"Hi, Fnick!" Jaz called, waving to Fang as we got on the bus. Yes, she was still overly attached to Fang. "It's so cold!"

"Yeah," I heard Fang respond, and snorted. Fang and his typical one-word answers…

"Let's sing Christmas carols!" Jaz decided, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah!"Gazzy agreed, and started singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of his lungs.

I grimaced and covered my ears with my hands. "Gazzy, shut up!"

Unfortunately, that made him sing even louder. "OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE IN A ONE HORSE OPEN SLEIGH!" he finished with a smile.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, at least that's over…."

That was Gazzy launched into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I'm pretty sure everyone on the bus groaned that time.

"Are we there yet?" I muttered under my breath.

~~::~~

"Alright, class!" Mrs. Jenkins said, clapping her hands. "We're going to do something fun!"

I exchanged a look with Fang. In Mrs. Jenkins' class, fun usually meant doing an extra math worksheet or something.

"Since this is the last week before winter break, we're going to be Secret Santas."

I frowned. "Uh, Mrs. Jenkins, sorry to rain on your parade, but Santa doesn't exist."

Everyone laughed, and I narrowed my eyes. That wasn't meant to be funny.

Mrs. Jenkins arched an eyebrow. "Maxine, Secret Santa is when you secretly give gifts to another person. The recipient doesn't know who the giver of the gifts is."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, that sounds boring."

Mrs. Jenkins frowned. "Would you like to visit Ms. Ruiz?" Ms. Ruiz was our new principal, and I had been to her office plenty of times. Fortunately, she didn't seem too evil.

Unfortunately, she didn't give out candy.

I shook my head. "Um, no thanks. I'll be quiet," I promised, though most of the time I couldn't keep that promise.

Mrs. Jenkins shook her head and took a jar filled with slips of paper off of her desk. "Each person will choose a slip from this jar. You will be that person's Secret Santa. Remember, don't tell anyone whose name you have."

She walked over to the kids on the opposite side of the room, and they began to pull slips of paper out of the jar. I got bored of waiting and started zoning out, wondering who my Secret Santa would be.

Suddenly, a jar with a few slips of paper was right in front of my face.

"Maxine?" Mrs. Jenkins was saying. "Kindly choose a slip of paper."

"Oh. Right." I closed my eyes, reached in, and pulled out a slip of paper, while Mrs. Jenkins moved on to Fang.

Slowly, I unfolded the piece of paper, and my breath caught. The paper had the name Jeff on it.

I'd chosen Iggy.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Later that day at lunch, I leaned over and poked Iggy. "Hey, who's your Secret Santa person?"

He shook his head. "I'm not telling!"

I frowned. "Yeah, sure. You know, you don't have to always follow the rules. I don't."

"And look at how much trouble that gets you in," Fang murmured, overhearing our conversation. I glared at him, then turned back to Iggy.

"So, who is it?"

"Who is what?" Nudge shrieked, running up behind me with her lunch tray and nearly spilling her food all over me. Gazzy came running behind Nudge and almost smashed into her.

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, Gazzy, sit down."

Nudge pouted. "Max, you're supposed to call me Tiffany-Krystal at school! That way people won't know…." She lowered her voice and glanced around the cafeteria suspiciously. "….our secret!"

I laughed. "Nudge, just sit down."

"My name is Tiffany-Krystal!" Nudge insisted, but she sat down on the other side of me, and Gazzy sat on the other side of Iggy.

"So," Nudge continued. "What were you saying to Iggy?"

I frowned. "Exactly, I was talking to Iggy. Not you." I turned to Iggy. "So what were you saying?"

"I can't tell you whose name I chose!" Iggy replied, then began eating his food rapidly.

"I bet it's Fang," I whispered to Nudge, who giggled despite not even knowing what we were talking about.

"Well, our class is doing a big gift exchange!" Nudge told me. "It's going to be so much fun! I'm going to give someone the best gift ever!"

"We're having a big party in my class!" Gazzy yelled from the other end of the table, his mouth full. "There's going to be cookies and hot chocolate and movies and we're going to make gingerbread houses!"

I laughed. "Well, that sounds like fun. I bet our class is gonna have a party too!"

"Doubt it," Iggy said. "Mrs. Jenkins doesn't believe in fun."

I grinned. "Yeah, you're right. But still, the Secret Santa thing is going to be awesome."

"Hey," Iggy said. "Whose name did you pick, Max?"

"Uh…." I trailed off. If I told him that he wasn't supposed to know, he'd get suspicious! So I made something up quickly. "It's Matt!"

"Matt, huh?" Iggy replied, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Well, okay."

_Sorry, Ig,_ I thought, frowning. _I can't let you know that I picked your name._

~~::~~

"Okay, Max!" Nudge whispered when we got on the bus later, after school. "Who's your real Secret Santa person?"

I frowned, looking right and left. Iggy and Gazzy hadn't gotten on the bus yet because they had to go get Gazzy's backpack, which he left in his classroom.

"Tell me!" Nudge hissed, her face breaking into a smile.

I shook my head. "Okay, okay. It's Iggy."

"Awwww!"Nudge murmured, her hands clasped together. "That's so cute! You should give him a kiss under the mistletoe!"

"What?" I asked, reeling backwards. "Uh, no. No way. I was thinking more along the lines of cookies or something stupid like that."

"Heart-shaped cookies!" Nudge replied dreamily. "And mistletoe!"

I shoved her into a seat as the boys got on the bus. "Nudge, shut the hell up!"

Her eyes widened. "Max, that's a bad word!"

"Hi!" Gazzy called, waving, as he led Iggy towards the back of the bus where we were sitting. As usual, Fang was in the front with Jaz.

"Hey," Iggy said, sitting down next to Gazzy. He grinned. "What's up?"

"Mistletoe!" Nudge squealed, from somewhere behind me.

I grimaced, then gave her my best Nudge-I-am-going-to-kill-you death glare. She cowered against the window.

Iggy frowned. "What?"

"Uh….she said…. 'There's a mystery toe!'" I stammered out quickly, realizing how stupid that sounded.

"Mystery Toe!"Gazzy yelled. "I should change my fake name to Mystery Toe!"

I laughed. "I'm sure your teacher will enjoy that."

"I didn't say-" Nudge started, but I covered her mouth with my hand.

"Shhh," I whispered. "This stays between you and me."

~~::~~

Later that night, I enlisted the help of Nudge and Mystery Toe to help me make sugar cookies for Iggy.

"Why are we making cookies at midnight?" Nudge moaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Because otherwise Iggy will find out!" I hissed, pulling supplies out of the cupboard. "Nudge, go set the oven. Gazzy, get a bowl and a spoon or something like that."

"Aye aye!"Gazzy whispered, then ended up making a huge racket as he pulled every single bowl out.

"Shhhhh!" I hissed at him. "Silence!"

"Aye aye!" he repeated, and made an even bigger commotion with putting all the other bowls away. I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, did you turn the oven on?"

She nodded. "I put it on 800 degrees, that way the cookies will bake faster!"

I grinned. "Good. Now we need to mix the batter."

Well, it turned out we didn't have sugar. I shrugged. "Oh well. It'll probably taste fine without it."

Also, we only had one cookie cutter. And it was in the shape of a Jack-o'-lantern.

"It looks cooler that way," Gazzy whispered, as we finally finished cutting out every cookie and shoved the cookie sheets into the oven.

I grinned, standing back. "This is going to be the best Secret Santa gift ever."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"I can't wait to open my Secret Santa present today!" Iggy said happily, on the bus ride to school.

I nodded. "Uh…yeah…" I trailed off. "Me too."

So, it turns out that when you make sugar cookies with no sugar, they don't really turn out too well. And that when Nudge set the oven at 800 degrees, that made them even worse. With no other choice, we'd shoved the burnt, disgusting cookies – Gazzy had actually tried one, and even he didn't like it – into an old gift bag that we'd found in Jeb's desk.

I wondered how we were supposed to give our gifts to people without them seeing it. I mean, Iggy was blind, but what about everyone else?

When we got to class, Mrs. Jenkins had the answer. "Hand me the gifts, and then stand outside. I will give each gift to its rightful owner." I handed her the bag of cookies, then walked outside, waiting for Iggy and Fang.

After what felt like hours of standing outside with Jaz blabbering about how she couldn't wait to see who her Secret Santa was, we finally got to go inside.

On my desk, there was a small box. I tore the paper off of it eagerly, opening the box.

There was a pencil inside – one of those cheap quality Christmas pencils. This one had happy-looking Santas all over it.

I frowned. "What am I supposed to do with this crap?" That's when I spotted a piece of paper at the bottom. It said, _Merry Christmas from your Secret Santa._

I squinted at the note, realization dawning upon my face. It looked like Fang's handwriting.

I looked up, narrowing my eyes at him. He would give me a stupid gift like this.

"What did you get?" Iggy asked as he finally managed to open his bag.

"A dumb pencil," I muttered, looking around the room. Other kids were getting things like candy and cookies and books and stuff. I was stuck with a pencil.

Fang was without a doubt, the worst Secret Santa ever.

I looked back at Iggy. "Hey, what did you get?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Well," Iggy said, "I can't tell, but it smells like burnt cookies."

Fang peered over his shoulder. "It is burnt cookies," he murmured, then looked at me, arching an eyebrow.

I shrugged, and he rolled his eyes. He knew.

~~::~~

"Okay, it wasn't just my fault!" I explained to Fang later at P.E., after Coach Thompson paired the two of us up. "It was Gazzy and Nudge's fault too! Nudge set the oven at 800 degrees!"

"Have you ever tried to cook anything in your life?" he asked. "You can't bake anything at 800 degrees."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "And I'm sure you do, right?"

"At least I'm not stupid enough to forget the sugar."

I frowned. "Okay, so forgetting sugar in the sugar cookies was a bad idea. But since when do you know how to bake?"

"I don't," Fang responded. "I have common sense."

"Ugh!" I yelled in exasperation, making our whole class look at me strangely. Then I lowered my voice, glaring at Fang. "Okay, here's the deal. We're going to get a much better gift for Iggy. You are going to come with me and help." Unfortunately, Mrs. Jenkins had explained that we needed to continue giving gifts to our Secret Santa person for the entire week. Ugh.

Fang frowned. "Or what?"

"Or…." I trailed off. "Or else! And you don't want to know what the else is!"

He shook his head, then looked back at me. "Okay, fine. I'm in."

~~::~~

If the goal of going to the mall was to get Christmas gifts for everyone else, I was doing pretty good. I'd already bought a teddy bear for Angel, the first nail polish set I saw for Nudge, and a Hot Wheels set for Gazzy. I'd even managed to buy a CD of Fang's favorite band when he wasn't looking.

Which still left me with trying to find a gift for Iggy.

"I told you, you should buy him something romantic!" Nudge said dreamily. Yes, she'd insisted on coming. Gazzy had begged too, but we'd needed someone to distract Iggy. "Boys love romance!"

Fang looked appalled. "No we don't."

"Don't deny it!" Nudge squealed.

Fang made an expression like he was ready to throw Nudge down the escalator. I didn't blame him. I'd already given Nudge her Christmas gift in an attempt to make her shut up, but so far, that wasn't working.

Somehow, we wandered into a random store. "Hi!" a cheerful lady at the counter said. "Can I help you today?"

"I'm looking for a gift for a friend," I said.

"A romantic gift," Nudge butted in, but I shoved her away.

The lady smiled, pulling out some books. "Well, may I recommend-"

"HE CAN'T READ!" I yelled, crossing my arms over my chest. The lady looked taken aback.

"What did you expect at Barnes and Noble?" Fang asked, sounding irritated. That's when I finally had the sense to look around and realize we were in a book store.

Oh.

"Sorry," I murmured, dragging Nudge out the door as Fang led the way.

"Well, this is a huge waste of time," I muttered, then looked at Fang. "You're not helping, and you're supposed to be helping! What do guys like?"

Fang shrugged, and I facepalmed. "Okay. Fine."

Nudge raised her hand. "Oooh, I know!"

I glanced at her, starting to smile. Someone finally had an idea. "Yeah?"

"We should go to Forever 21!" she shrieked.

Fang and I groaned. "I don't think Iggy wants anything from there."

We started heading towards the food court. "Maybe you should just buy him food," Nudge suggested.

I shook my head. "Nah… that won't work."

"What about that?" Fang asked, pointing at a store in the other direction. My eyes followed the direction his finger was pointing in, and then I grinned.

"Yeah. That's perfect."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Here," Fang told Iggy the next morning, shoving a Christmas paper-wrapped box into his arms. I sat next to him, pretending I had no idea who the gift was from. Everyone else was opening their Secret Santa gifts.

Iggy frowned. "Fang, you're my Secret Santa? I thought you could cook."

Fang rolled his eyes. "I'm not your Secret Santa. Your Secret Santa wanted me to give this to you."

"Really?" Iggy began. "Who's my-"

"Open it! Let's see what's inside!" Jaz yelled, taking a bite of a cupcake with green and red sprinkles, which was presumably from her Secret Santa, who could obviously cook.

"Okay, okay," Iggy said, carefully tearing off wrapping paper until there was a plain brown box sitting in front of him. "What is it?"

"You have to open it," Fang told him. Iggy just stared at him – well, kind of.

"Okay, fine," Fang added, opening the box and taking out the present, which he placed in Iggy's hands. Jaz squealed, though I couldn't tell if she was happy or freaked out.

"It feels….soft," Iggy said, frowning.

"Say hello to your very own rat!" I told Iggy, grinning proudly.

Iggy grinned too. "Seriously? This is so cool!" he exclaimed, cupping the black colored rat in his hands. Everyone started to crowd around us. "What've you got there?" someone – Matt, I think – asked.

I smiled. "His Secret Santa gave it to him."

Leave it to Mrs. Jenkins to ruin the moment. "Jeff, we do not bring pets to the fifth grade!"

"Technically, his Secret Santa brought pets to the fifth grade," I retorted, mocking her.

"Yes? And who is this person?" Mrs. Jenkins called. "Who is Jeff's Secret Santa?"

Well, obviously, no one spoke up.

Mrs. Jenkins sighed. "Jeff, please call your father to have him take that….rodent home. Pets are not allowed at school."

I caught Fang's eye and shrugged.

Oops.

~~::~~

"What should I name it?" Iggy asked later that day, his new pet in his hands. Nudge had taken one look at his rat and ran to her room screaming. Despite everyone trying to explain to her that it was a pet, not a wild rat with rabies, she wouldn't come out.

"Explosion!"Gazzy yelled, jumping up and down on the couch.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"But I like jumping on the couch!" Gazzy shouted.

I rolled my eyes. "No! I meant the name wasn't a good idea, stupid!"

"Uh..." Fang trailed off. "What about something Christmas-y?"

I frowned while Angel crawled into my lap. "Huh?"

Iggy nodded. "Yeah!I like that idea!" He frowning, obviously thinking. "Like….Christmas Tree?"

"No!" Gazzy objected. "Name it Santa!"

"No," Fang and I moaned at the same time.

"Frosty!" Angel shrieked.

I laughed. "I don't think so."

"Mistletoe," Nudge suggested, peering out from her doorway cautiously. I rolled my eyes. "Not that again."

"Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows!"Gazzy added.

"Too long," I replied.

"Snowball," Gazzy countered.

"It's a black rat."

"Uh...Cookies?"

I shook my head. "Ugh."

Iggy frowned. "I'm out of ideas."

"Raticia!"Gazzy yelled.

We all stared at him. "Raticia?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

He nodded. "Yeah! A kid in my class has a rat named Raticia!"

"Never trust kindergarteners to name their pets," I told Iggy, grinning. Looking at his rat's black color, I suddenly had an idea. "Oh! I know!"

"What?" everyone practically yelled.

"Well, his rat is black, right? So, what about Ash?" I suggested.

Everyone was quiet. Then Gazzy yelled, "Yeah! I like that!"

Angel grinned. "Yeah! I like that! Yeah!" she echoed her brother.

"Me too," Fang added, shrugging. Even Nudge, who was still peering around her doorway, nodded.

I looked at Iggy. "How about you? It's your rat."

He grinned. "I can't come up with anything better."

That was when Jeb walked in the door, home from…wherever he'd gone for his errands. "What's going on here?" he asked, then spotted the rat that was now perched on Iggy's shoulder. "What are you doing with that rat?" he asked with a frown.

"I tried to warn them," Nudge told him, sighing.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"Max! Wake up!" Gazzy screamed the next morning. I groaned and pulled my blanket over my head a split second before he burst into my room. "Max! You have to get up now! It's an emergency!" he shouted.

I bolted up in bed. "What is it? Erasers?"

Gazzy grabbed my hand and sort of pulled me out of my bedroom and down the stairs, to the window. "Look at this!"

I shoved the curtains open, but alas, no Erasers. Nothing dangerous. I looked at Gazzy. "And you woke me up at 5 in the morning because…."

"It's snowing! There's no school today!" Gazzy cheered, running back upstairs.

"That's right, go bug Fang," I muttered. Seriously, why did everyone assume that just because I was the leader, I had to be woken up at the crack of dawn for things that weren't even that important?

I looked outside again. Well, the snow did look pretty. And it was our first time ever seeing snow.

I shook my head. "Pretty? Pull yourself together, Max."

"Let's go outside!" Gazzy yelled, running back downstairs with a sleepy-looking Nudge trailing behind him. Iggy followed with Fang, who was carrying Angel in his arms.

I looked at Gazzy, standing there in his Batman pajamas. "Aren't you going to be cold?"

Gazzy shook his head. "No way!" he protested, then flung the door open and ran outside.

Thirty seconds later, he ran back inside. "It's too cold! It's too cold!"

I laughed. "Told you. Who wants hot chocolate?"

"You're sure you won't burn the hot chocolate?" Fang asked, smirking.

I elbowed him. "Hey, I can make hot chocolate," I replied. He gave me a look that said, _I doubt it._

Nudge, who was now more awake, was pulling marshmallows and hot chocolate mix out of the cabinet. "I want to help!" she offered.

"Me too, me too!"Gazzy added, jumping up and down.

I arched an eyebrow at Nudge, remembering how she'd set the oven way too high, then gave in. "Okay, everyone can help make breakfast."

Soon, we were all sipping hot chocolate, while waiting for the cinnamon rolls that Iggy had made to finishing baking.

Suddenly, Jeb walked into the kitchen, looking pretty tired. "What's going on here?" he asked. "I heard yelling…"

"We're having breakfast!" Gazzy yelled, and Jeb winced, then looked at the clock. "At 5:30 in the morning?"

I shrugged. "Blame Gazzy. He's the one that woke us up."

"Yeah!" Nudge agreed, making a face.

"Hey!" Gazzy yelled.

"Guess what? No school today!" Iggy exclaimed, grinning.

Nudge nodded. "Yeah, it's a snow day!"

Jeb frowned as he began to make some coffee. "Who told you that?"

I frowned, looking at Gazzy, who shrank down in his seat. "Gazzy did."

"Wouldn't we have gotten a call if school was canceled?" Jeb asked.

"But Jeb…can't we just miss this one day?" Nudge asked, pouting.

Jeb shook his head. "School is important."

I smirked. "Yeah, that's why we missed a week of school to go to Disneyland, right?" I asked.

Jeb frowned again. "Max, you really should-" he began.

"Yeah!" Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge all yelled at the same time. Actually, even Angel yelled "Yeah!", even though she didn't go to school.

I grinned. "See?"

He sighed. "Alright. Just one day, though."

"Yay!" Nudge cheered, leaping up from her chair as Gazzy and Iggy slapped high fives. Angel was giggling like crazy, and even Fang might have smiled a bit.

I grinned. "Awesome."

~~::~~

"Sneak attack!" Gazzy screamed, and proceeded to throw a snowball at the back of Fang's head.

I rolled my eyes. Nudge looked up from the snowman I was helping her build and started laughing hysterically at Fang.

I looked at her. "What's so funny?"

"Gazzy nailed him with a snowball!" she exclaimed, continuing to giggle. I stuck my tongue out at her and looked over at Iggy, who was throwing snowballs in Gazzy's direction, with some help from Fang.

"Come on," I told Nudge, grabbing her pink mitten-clad hand and dragging her over there.

"Aaah! Attack!"Gazzy yelled, launching a snowball at me. I dodged it, and it hit Nudge.

"Hey!" she shouted, bending down to scoop up some snow. "You are so dead! I am going to wipe that smile off your face!" Standing up, Nudge took aim, threw the snowball – and hit Iggy instead.

"Who did that?" he yelled.

"Nudge! Nudge did it!" Gazzy sang, dancing around. Iggy grinned.

"Get them!" he yelled, and Gazzy and Fang started hurling snowballs at us.

"We're going to dieeee!" Nudge wailed, ducking behind the snowman we'd made. I rolled my eyes, looking at Angel, who was sitting happily on the ground next to the snowman.

"Angel, help me!" I told the three-year-old.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!" was her response.

"You're no help!" I muttered, then grabbed a handful of snow and stood up. "Hey, Gazzy!" I called, and he turned around and looked at me. "Yeah?"

I smirked. "Take this!" I yelled, hurling the snowball at him. It hit him right in the face. Most kindergarteners would probably start crying, but not Gazzy. He just stood there laughing.

I put my hands on my hips. "What's so funny?"

Before I could get a response, I was ambushed from behind by Fang and Iggy. Well, mostly Fang.

"Retreat, retreat!" Nudge was screaming from somewhere behind Gazzy.

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, you already retreated!" Between Nudge who wanted to retreat and Angel, who was happily singing Christmas carols, I didn't have much help.

That was okay, though.

While the boys were distracted by Nudge retreating, I took the opportunity to stock up on snowballs. Then I jumped out from behind the snowman and started pelting the boys with snowballs.

"Hey!" Iggy yelled, throwing one at me. Of course, it almost hit Angel instead.

"Angel, you're in our line of fire!" Gazzy protested, when suddenly the guys were attacked by…. Nudge?

"For Narnia!" she hollered, throwing more snowballs at them from behind. I attacked them from the other side. It looked like we were actually winning.

Until Jeb walked right in the middle of the fight.

"Jeb!"Gazzy whined, as one of Iggy's snowballs actually hit Jeb, right in the chest.

Jeb frowned. "The school just called."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "And? I told you, we're not going to school today."

"Then you should be glad to know that school is in fact canceled," Jeb told us.

I grinned as everyone else started celebrating.

"Best day ever!" Nudge cheered.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Unfortunately, the snowy weather didn't last forever.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Nudge muttered the next morning. The snow had melted enough that we had to go back to school today. And unfortunately, I didn't have any idea of what I could get Iggy for a Secret Santa gift.

"I know, right?" Gazzy whined. "What happened to snowball fights? And hot chocolate?"

"Have fun at school!" Jeb said, way too cheerfully. I glared at him as we headed towards the bus stop.

"What am I supposed to do for a Secret Santa gift now?" I whispered to Fang, who shrugged.

I rolled my eyes at him. Some help he was.

"You didn't get a Secret Santa gift for someone?" Iggy asked, concern written all over his face.

I swallowed. No way was he finding out that I was his Secret Santa. "Yeah, but don't worry about it. It's fine."

He shook his head as the bus pulled up and we climbed on. "It's okay, I'll help you find something!"

"Um, no thank you!" I protested, shaking my head vigorously. "It doesn't really matter!"

"Well, okay," Iggy replied, shrugging in defeat as Gazzy pulled him towards the back of the bus.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess not." By then, they were already in the back of the bus.

Then I turned to Nudge and started shaking her by the shoulders. "Nudge, help me find a gift!"

"Something romantic!" she sighed dreamily.

I rolled my eyes. "NO!"

"What's this?" Jaz asked, popping up from the other side of the seat. "You forgot to get a gift for your Secret Santa person?"

I jumped. "What the heck were you doing there?"

"Playing hide and seek!" Jaz exclaimed.

I gave her a weird look, like she was a kindergartener and not a fifth-grader. "Um, okay."

"I can help you find a gift," Jaz repeated, beaming.

I exchanged a look with Nudge, who nodded. Frowning, I turned to Jaz. "Fine. How?"

Jaz leaned in and whispered her plan to Nudge and me. Nudge's eyes widened. "No, we can't do that! We'll get in trouble!"

"No, we won't," Jaz declared. "I have my ways."

I arched an eyebrow, considering it. "Okay, fine. We're in."

~~::~~

"Um, guys?" Nudge whispered. "Maybe breaking into the teacher's lounge isn't such a good idea."

"Shhhh!" Jaz hissed, shoving her hand over Nudge's mouth.

I rolled my eyes, waiting for Jaz to tell us the rest of the plan. Apparently, the teachers were having a big Christmas party at lunch today, and there was going to be treats galore. At least, that was what Jaz had told me.

How exactly had Jaz known about this? I wasn't sure I wanted to ask.

"We go in, we grab something, and we get out," Jaz whispered to me.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "That's it? That's your big plan?"

"Hurry, while no one is there!" Nudge urged me, and before I could say anything else to Jaz, she was opening the door.

"We'll keep watch!" she hissed. "Go!"

It was incredibly dark in the teacher's lounge. I mean, we can all see well in dark places – except for Iggy, I guess – but it was way too dark for comfort. Just say there were Erasers in here, for instance.

I shook my head. Nope, that was impossible.

I looked around for any kind of food, but all I saw was a salad. I made a face – Iggy definitely wouldn't want that.

Then I saw it – a huge table filled with food. And right in the middle of the table there was a gigantic plate stacked with the most delicious looking cupcakes I'd ever seen.

I made my way over to the table, grabbing two cupcakes and a paper plate, which I quickly covered with saran wrap. Then I carefully maneuvered my way towards the door.

"Oh, hi, Mrs. Jenkins!" I heard Jaz's voice say from outside the door. I cursed under my breath. Of course it had to be Mrs. Jenkins, out of any teacher in the school.

"Hello, Jasmine," Mrs. Jenkins replied, and the doorknob started to turn. My eyes widened and I backed up from the door.

"Mrs. Jenkins, I'd like to ask you about this one math problem," Jaz began, but Mrs. Jenkins cut her off.

"Jasmine, I am very busy. Perhaps I could assist you at another time. Please excuse me."

"Wait, you can't go in there!" Jaz yelled, but it was too late. The door opened, and light flooded in. I had just enough time to throw myself under a table, clutching the cupcakes under one arm.

From my hiding spot under the table, I saw Mrs. Jenkins walk over to the dessert table. Then she just stopped there.

I accidentally let out a sigh, and she whirled. "Who's there?"

I froze. For an old lady, she had surprisingly good hearing. After she got no response, she turned her back to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jaz holding the door open, waving frantically at me to get out of there. I didn't hesitate as I scrambled out from under the table and out of the teacher's lounge.

"Run!" I hissed, grabbing Nudge's hand and booking it down the hall with my stolen cupcakes, Jaz struggling to catch up.

When we made it to our classroom, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Max, you were so close to getting caught!" Nudge shrieked, wrapping her arms around my waist in a hug.

I laughed. "I am never breaking into the teacher's lounge ever again."

~~::~~

"This cupcake is so good!" Iggy exclaimed, happily taking a bite.

I smiled. "They look good. I bet your Secret Santa went through a lot to give them to you." I told him. Fang arched an eyebrow at me suspiciously, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

Iggy laughed. "Yeah! They must've taken some cooking classes or something!"

Mrs. Jenkins walked by, then frowned, looking at the cupcakes.

"Is something wrong, Mrs. Jenkins?" I asked innocently, looking up at her.

She shook her head. "No, nothing that concerns you, Maxine. I was just thinking that those cupcakes looked like the ones that I made for the staff Christmas party."

I gulped. Iggy grinned. "My Secret Santa made these for me!"

"Yes, I suppose so," Mrs. Jenkins replied. "It's impossible that they would be the same, of course." Then she turned and walked over to her desk and began grading papers or something boring that teachers like to do.

I caught Jaz's eye and grinned, and she grinned back. Impossible? Not for Maximum Ride.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Finally, it was the last day before winter break. Nudge and Gazzy were even more hyper than usual on the bus ride to school.

"My teacher says we're having a Christmas party!" Gazzy exclaimed, bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Well, we're having a gift exchange!" Nudge replied, clutching a red and green paper-wrapped box in her arms. She'd apparently put a bunch of jewelry in there. Some boy was probably going to end up receiving that. The thought made me laugh.

"What are you guys doing in class today?" she continued. "I bet you'll get something really cool from your Secret Santa!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. Right." I'd received a pencil every single day as a Secret Santa gift. Whoever was picking those out didn't have very good taste in gifts, I guess.

"Maybe you'll have a party too!" Gazzy yelled, grinning.

Nope.

"Clear off your desks and take out a writing utensil," Mrs. Jenkins announced. "We are taking a test."

Everyone groaned. "Test?" I protested to Fang. "What test?"

"The test we were supposed to be studying for for two weeks?" he replied with a shrug.

Of course. Just my luck – I'd never heard anything about a test.

I sighed, pulling out one of my brand new pencils. Maybe my Secret Santa was trying to give me a hint about the test. Yeah, right.

Mrs. Jenkins handed tests out to everyone. "You may begin," she said, and I frowned. Iggy just put his head down on the desk – Mrs. Jenkins always tested him orally, during recess or lunch.

I looked at the first question. _What was the importance of the Boston Tea Party?_

I grimaced. Of course it was another stupid question about that dumb tea party.

In the blank under the question, I wrote, _Nothing. _Then I moved onto the next question.

_When was the Declaration of Independence signed?_

Hmm. I wasn't sure, so I just wrote_, A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away._

_Why was George Washington chosen as the first president?_

I wrote, _Because his name is George and there are lots of people named George who are president._

The whole test went like this until I got to the multiple choice. Then I just gave up and bubbled in every answer as C. Well, I had to get some of them correct, right?

Setting my pencil down, I held my test out to Mrs. Jenkins as she walked by. She looked at me with a confused expression.

"Maxine, you're already done?" She looked at the clock. "We just started the test ten minutes ago."

I rolled my eyes. "I told you, my name is Max. And yes, I am done."

Mrs. Jenkins arched an eyebrow. "I don't tolerate rudeness in my classroom, Maxine. Do you want to visit the principal again?"

I smirked. "Oh, yeah. You know it," I replied, sarcastically.

I guess Mrs. Jenkins didn't understand sarcasm because she replied, "Maxine, kindly report to the office."

~~::~~

"Hello, Max," the office lady said when I walked in. "Mrs. Ruiz will be right with you."

I sighed, slumping down in the bench where I always had to sit. Mrs. Ruiz, the new principal, definitely wasn't evil. Although, of course, that didn't mean I liked visiting her all the time.

Then I suddenly remembered I hadn't gotten Iggy a Secret Santa gift. And it was the last day before break!

I looked around the office, trying to see what I could possibly turn into a last-second gift. Some pens with our school's name on it?

Nope. Iggy couldn't even write.

I peered into the trashcan. Just some scraps of paper. Iggy definitely wouldn't want that.

The secretary called, "Max, Mrs. Ruiz will see you now."

When I stood up to go in, that was when I saw the perfect gift. A jar of candy canes, decorated with a big red bow, sat right next to the secretary's desk. When she saw me looking in her direction, she half-smiled.

"Yes, Max?"

"Uh…" I trailed off. "Um, n-nothing!" I stuttered, then practically ran into Mrs. Ruiz's office.

"Hello, Maxine," Mrs. Ruiz said without looking up from her paperwork. For a principal, she was fairly young-looking, probably in her early thirties, with dark brown hair and usually calm brown eyes. Yes, basically the opposite of Mr. Robin, who was a creepy old man. "Please come in."

I did, but only stood in the doorway. "Mrs. Ruiz, I have something very important I have to do!"

"Max, please sit down," Mrs. Ruiz replied, ignoring me.

I glared at her, but she didn't catch it. "But it's very important!"

"Yes?" she responded, looking up as I fell into the seat in front of her desk. "What is this very important thing you must do, Max?"

"Well…" I trailed off again. "You see, our class is doing Secret Santas! And the person I was supposed to get a gift for….well, I didn't get them one!"

"Mhmm," she murmured.

"Well, the first day, I made him cookies. Really badly burnt cookies. And then I…um, got him a rat. And then some cupcakes. But today I don't have anything to give him!"

"Hmm." Mrs. Ruiz looked up. "That's a problem."

"I know that!" I practically yelled in an annoyed tone.

Mrs. Ruiz shook her head. "Max, please pipe down. You're going to give me a headache."

I rolled my eyes, leaning back in my seat and crossing my arms over my chest. "Mrs. Jenkins sent me here so you could lecture me. Go ahead. Lecture away."

"Max, it sounds like you have a problem on your hands," Mrs. Ruiz replied, ignoring me yet again.

I made my eyes wide. "No, really? Is it the fact that I'm sitting in the principal's office?"

"Max, do you really want a lecture?" Mrs. Ruiz asked, and I shook my head. She nodded. "That's what I thought."

I frowned. "So then what am I doing sitting here?"

Mrs. Ruiz looked at me. "As I said, you've got a problem. And as your principal, I'm here to help you."

I bit my tongue, trying to keep a snide remark from popping out of my mouth. "I don't want your help."

Mrs. Ruiz laughed, and I gave her a weird look. "If you want to have a gift for your friend, you'll take my help."

I sighed. "Fine. Just tell me what it is we're going to do."

~~::~~

"Are you finished with that note yet?" Mrs. Ruiz asked, arranging the candy canes in the jar.

I looked up. "Yeah!" For a principal, Mrs. Ruiz was surprisingly….tolerable.

She'd told me to write a note, from the heart. Deep emotional feelings weren't exactly Max-like, but I did the best I could. Finally, I had written a note that said….well, you'll find out later.

And no, it wasn't romantic poetry! Jeez.

"Thanks, Mrs. Ruiz," I said, clutching the jar and the note tightly, not wanting to drop anything. "Um, thanks for everything."

Mrs. Ruiz smiled. "Anytime you need help, I'm here."

As I turned to walk towards my classroom, I thought to myself, _No thanks._ After all, I couldn't trust anyone outside of my flock – my family. Trusting anyone else was just too risky.

I made my way towards the front of the room, where my seat was. Iggy was sitting there, talking to Fang.

"Um, hi. Can I interrupt?" I asked from behind them.

Iggy turned to grin at me. "Duh!"

"Here," I said suddenly. "This is from your Secret Santa."

I handed him the jar, and he frowned. "What's in it?"

"Candy canes," I replied with a grin. Fang arched an eyebrow, as if to say, _Where'd you get that? _I just shrugged.

"Cool!" Iggy said. "Tell my Secret Santa I said thanks."

I bit my lip, then broke out into another smile, not able to contain the secret any longer. "Dummy. I am your Secret Santa."

"Really?" Iggy asked, his smile getting even bigger. "I guess I should have known from the burnt cookies. I mean, you burn everything!"

"Hey!" I protested, hitting him in the arm. He just laughed, then reached for the piece of paper. "What's this?"

Of course. Iggy couldn't read. In my rush to find a present for Iggy, I'd neglected to tell Mrs. Ruiz that Iggy was blind, and had just written a note at her orders.

I laughed. "Nothing. Nothing, really."

Iggy arched an eyebrow. "Nothing?"

I smiled. "Nope. Besides, I have a better present for you." Slowly, I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Right in the front of the class, I might add.

~~::~~

"You ever going to tell me what that note says?" Iggy whispered on the bus later that day, holding my hand.

I grinned. "Eh, it's all mushy stuff I'd never say. You don't want to hear me say that kind of stuff."

Iggy grinned back. "I think I like the tough Max better. The one who's a great leader and friend."

"Ooh! I see you guys did some romantic stuff!" Nudge yelled, popping out from behind the seat.

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, what are you talking about?"

"Friends don't hold friends' hands," Nudge pointed out.

"Nope," Iggy said, squeezing my hand. "They don't." I looked over at him in surprise. He was grinning.

"You guys are so busted when I tell Jeb!" she yelled.

I laughed. "Whatever."

Well, dear reader, I guess you're wondering what the note said.

I guess that's just too bad for you.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

"Who's ready to go Christmas caroling?" Jaz yelled. I glared at her as Gazzy and Nudge cheered, "Me!"

"Not me," I muttered. Of course, Christmas caroling had been Jaz's stupid idea, and she'd managed to talk everyone else into it.

"Come on, Max! It's going to be fun!" Nudge shrieked as I helped Gazzy put on his boots.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure."

"She said yes!" Nudge squealed as I stood up. Jaz grinned and grabbed my arm, starting to pull me out the door.

"What?" I protested. "That's not what I meant-"

"You're going to love Christmas caroling!" Jaz cut me off.

"Can I at least put on a jacket or something?" I asked in an irritated voice. Jaz glanced over at my jeans and T-shirt.

"Okay, fine. But make it quick!"

I ran up the stairs and into my room, then closed and locked the door. I grinned. There was so way they could get me to come with them now.

"Max? Are you in there?" a voice called, pounding on the door. I rolled my eyes – did Jaz ever stop being annoying?

"No, I'm not," I replied sarcastically.

"You should come! Please?" Jaz begged from the other side of the door.

"No," I replied, grabbing the handle and swinging the door open. "Now go away."

"Pleaaase?" Nudge asked from behind Jaz, and I made the mistake of looking at her. She was giving me the Bambi eyes.

No one can resist the Bambi eyes.

"Okay, fine," I muttered. The two girls cheered.

"Max is coming!" Nudge hollered, jumping up and down. Jaz was grinning at Nudge.

I frowned. _I am really going to regret this…_

~~::~~

"It's Christmas eve!" Nudge exclaimed happily as we walked down the sidewalk. "That means Santa's coming!"

"I bet he's going to bring us a zebra!" Gazzy replied, grinning.

I stared at him. "A zebra?"

Gazzy nodded. "I wrote a letter to Santa and told him that I wanted a zebra! And a Ferrari, and a treehouse, and an ice cream truck-" I started tuning Gazzy out as he listed everything he wanted for Christmas.

"I want some nail polish since Max, Fang, and Iggy stole mine and gave it away as a birthday gift," Nudge said, turning to glare at us. Iggy and I burst out laughing, and Fang smirked.

"Don't laugh! It's not funny!" she yelled.

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, Santa isn't real. And if he was, he wouldn't be bringing you nail polish."

"How dare you say Santa isn't real!" Nudge shouted.

"Yeah!"Gazzy complained. "Max is just jealous because Santa's gonna give her a big stocking full of coal!"

"Guys! Shhh!" Jaz told us, then pointed to a house. "Let's go sing to whoever lives there!"

The younger kids bounded up the steps to the front door, led by Jaz. Iggy followed closely behind Gazzy, his hand on his shoulder.

I stood on the sidewalk next to Fang, holding Angel in my arms. Angel had wanted to go caroling, but she'd gotten sleepy after just a couple minutes of walking.

I glanced over at Fang. "You're not going with them? I thought you loved to sing," I teased him. He just rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, I heard shrieking. I turned, looking to see who it was, and then realized that the shrieking was really the noise of four people screaming Jingle Bells at the top of their lungs.

I groaned. This was a terrible idea. Angel blinked her eyes open sleepily. "What's that?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

I sighed. "Angel, you don't even want to know."

The woman who had answered the door looked pretty freaked out. Poor lady. Then I decided it was time to take action. I put Angel down and strode towards the others, grabbing Jaz's shoulder.

"I think it's time to leave," I hissed at her, then looked at the lady. "Uh. Sorry. About my siblings. And my…friend." I hesitated before calling Jaz my friend, because that was something she was not. "Wehavetogonowbye!"

Then I grabbed Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge and marched them back down the steps towards the sidewalk and Fang, who was just standing there, smirking.

"Okay, I think it's time to go home," I began, but Jaz, seemingly ignorant, shouted, "On to the next house!" Gazzy and Nudge grinned and ran ahead, with Angel following behind them.

I sighed as Iggy laughed. "Great. Apparently, she's deaf."

"Come on, Max!" Jaz yelled, running back over to me and grabbing my arm. "Let's go!"

Of course I was stronger than she was, so her efforts to pull me towards the front door of some random stranger's house. But then Iggy and Nudge grabbed my other arm and started to pull me forward, along with Jaz.

"Hey, I didn't agree to this!" I yelled, trying to yank my arms out of their grip. But against four kids – Gazzy had grabbed my arm that Jaz was holding – I couldn't get away from them.

Angel stood on her tiptoes to ring the doorbell, giggling. I just glared at everyone. "This is not fair."

"Okay, this time, we're going to sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!" Jaz announced, right as a lady opened the door.

"Yes? Can I help you?" she asked.

"Rudolph the red nosed reindeer!" Jaz belted suddenly and I winced.

"Reindeer!"Gazzy echoed.

"Had a very shiny nose!" Nudge, Jaz, and Gazzy all started screaming. Iggy was just cracking up and Angel was still giggling.

While they were distracted with singing, I pulled away from them, running back to the sidewalk where Fang was standing. I stood there, my arms crossed, while Fang snickered.

Finally, the song was over and the others ran back to us, Angel stumbling after them. I picked her up, putting her on my shoulders.

After a few more houses and a lot more singing, aka shrieking, I was more than ready to go back to our house.

"This is so much fun!" Nudge squealed.

I rolled my eyes. "You have a weird definition of 'fun'."

"Can we go home now?" Fang murmured, and I glanced over at him. At least someone else here had some sense.

"No way!"Gazzy yelled. "Let's go sing some more!"

I grabbed his and Nudge's arms. "Nope, we're going home."

"Awww! Why?" Nudge whined. "I liked Christmas caroling!"

"Yeah, but I'm not so sure our neighbors like your Christmas caroling," I pointed out. "Come on, let's go. Otherwise 'Santa' won't come."

Nudge's, Gazzy's, and Angel's eyes all widened. Apparently, they were convinced because Gazzy nodded and Nudge shrieked, "Santa has to come!"

"He won't if you don't stop bugging our neighbors," I told her.

"Let's go!" Gazzy yelled. "No more singing!"

I grinned, unfurling my wings. "That's what I thought you guys would say." Then I took off, knowing the rest of the flock wouldn't be far behind. And yes, we did leave Jaz all alone. Oops.

"Flying is a lot better than singing," Iggy said, catching up to me, relying on the sound of my wings flapping to tell where I was.

I grinned. "That's for sure."

Nudge, of course, had an idea. "What if we sing while flying?"

Fang and I groaned. Nudge started singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" as loud as possible.

Gazzy looked upwards. "What if we see Santa while we're flying? That would be cool!"

"Santa isn't…" I trailed off. It was Christmas Eve, after all, and I didn't want to ruin it for the younger kids. It was our first real Christmas, after all. The whitecoats in the School hadn't exactly put up a big Christmas tree and given us presents or anything.

I smiled at him. "Yeah, Gazzy. That would be nice."

~~::~~

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! Just as a heads up, I might not be able to post another chapter tomorrow. Just you don't think I, like, died or something. Well anyways, thank you for reading! I hope you've enjoyed the ride so far.**


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

"'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse'," I read, then looked up at Nudge. "This book is crap."

Nudge shook her head. "No, Max! Keep reading!"

I frowned and started to read again. "'The stockings were hung by the chimney with care-"

Gazzy snickered. "Who hangs their socks on a chimney? That sounds dumb."

I rolled my eyes. "Gazzy, I didn't write this stupid book. Nudge forced me to read it."

"Read more!" Angel, who was curled up in my lap, begged.

I sighed. "Okay, fine." Picking up the book again, I pretended to read it. "Then Santa came and it was Christmas and this stupid book was over. The end."

"That was a really short book!" Gazzy said as I slammed the book closed, tossing it aside.

I stood up, leading Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge into the kitchen, where Iggy had just finished baking some cookies. He was getting better and better at cooking – much better than me, of course. His cookies always turned out not-burnt and delicious. Was I mad that a blind kid could cook better than me?

Nah. Not really.

"Who wants cookies?" Iggy asked, holding out a plate full of delicious-looking frosted cookies.

"No!" Nudge yelled, and we looked at her in surprise.

"No?" Gazzy asked – he'd been reaching for a cookie. His hand was frozen over the plate of cookies.

Nudge shook her head. "No, because those cookies are for Santa! If you eat them, then Santa won't come! And you know what that means! No presents! You don't want that to happen, right?"

Gazzy glanced at me, and I shrugged. Then I reached over and grabbed a cookie from the plate, stuffing it into my mouth.

Nudge went ballistic. "No!" she yelled. "Don't do that!"

"Oops," I replied, grinning as Gazzy and Angel started helping themselves to cookies. Nudge was screaming her head off at them.

Iggy was cracking up. "I can just make some more," he told Nudge.

Fang walked into the kitchen. "What's going on?" he asked, glancing over at Nudge, who was still hollering something about Santa not coming.

"We're eating cookies," I told him.

"What's wrong with that?" Fang asked, taking one and biting into it. Nudge started protesting again.

"Maybe Santa doesn't want cookies," I told Nudge, suddenly having an idea.

Nudge stopped yelling and looked at me. "Huh? Of course he does."

I shook my head. "He probably gets sick of eating cookies all the time. Maybe he'd like some nice….brocolli," I decided.

Nudge considered it. "But what if he doesn't like broccoli?"

I grinned. "Of course he does. I…asked him. He says it's his favorite food." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang rolling his eyes. I elbowed him and mouthed, "Go with it."

Then I turned back to Nudge. "Nudge, guess what? If we give broccoli to Santa, we won't have to eat it."

Nudge's eyes lit up. "Yeah!"Gazzy nodded, grinning.

I turned to the fridge and started pulling out all the vegetables I could find. "He likes mushrooms too!" Gazzy told me, peering into the fridge. I laughed and handed those to him, then looked at Nudge. "Do you think Santa likes onions?"

"Yeah!" she said. Angel, who was standing next to her, giggled. "Yeah!" she echoed Nudge.

Finally, we had a bunch of veggies sitting on the counter. "Now what?" Fang asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Obviously we put it out where "Santa" can find it."

"I bet Santa likes tomato juice instead of milk!" Gazzy announced, pointing into the fridge.

I nodded. "Yeah! We'll give him the whole container, so he can take some for the road."

Iggy laughed as the younger kids carried the vegetables into the other room, dumping them onto the coffee table next to the big Christmas had wanted a bigger one, but Jeb had told us that a tree that was twenty feet tall probably wouldn't fit in our house.

"Since when did you believe in Santa?" he asked, grinning.

I elbowed him, grinning back. "I don't. But admit it, getting rid of all our vegetables is a great idea, no?"

Iggy just laughed again. "Whatever you say, leader Max."

"Look at all these presents!" Gazzy yelled. "I bet they're all for me!" Angel was laying on the floor, playing with the little electronic train that went around and around the tree.

I rolled my eyes. "Right, because he really wants Nudge's nail polish."

"Hey, time for bed!" Jeb called, walking into the room.

"Booo!"Gazzy yelled, and Nudge added, "We're not even tired!"

"Santa won't come if you don't go to sleep," Jeb told them.

Angel, Nudge, and Gazzy were in their beds within the next two minutes.

Jeb frowned, looking at all the vegetables sitting on the table. "What are these doing here?"

Iggy laughed as I told Jeb, "It's a gift for Santa. Nudge is convinced that he's going to eat them all." Fang just rolled his eyes again.

"Max!" Nudge called out to me as I passed her and Angel's room, heading to my room.

"Yeah?" I asked, poking my head in.

"I set up a video camera behind the tree," she whispered. "That way we'll see Santa!"

I laughed, sitting on her bed. "That's…nice, Nudge."

"Max, what was the real ending to that book?" she asked, sitting up.

I frowned. "I read it to you, didn't I?"

Nudge shook her head. "No, that wasn't the real ending! Read me the real ending!" she insisted, handing the book to me and curling up in her bed.

Angel was sitting up now, her favorite teddy bear clutched in her arms. I sighed, opening the book to the last page. "Alright, here. I'll read it." I started from the beginning again as Gazzy slowly walked in, rubbing his eyes.

Finally, I reached the last page. "'But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night."'"

I glanced over at Angel, who was fast asleep. I smiled, standing up and pulling her blanket over her. Nudge mumbled sleepily, "Good night, Max."

I smiled at her. "Night, Nudge." I said goodnight to Gazzy as he went into his room, and then I headed towards my room. I was stopped by Fang.

"What's this?" he asked, smirking. "Invincible Max, reading a Christmas story?"

Iggy grinned, poking his head out of his room. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Max?"

I rolled my eyes, shoving both of them aside. "There. Is that better?"

Iggy laughed. "Oh, there's the Max we know!"

"Guys, I can't sleep!" Gazzy yelled from his room.

"When is Santa coming?" Nudge shouted from down the hall.

"I want cookies!" Angel yelled.

"GO TO SLEEP!" Jeb ordered, coming out of his room.

I laughed. "Jeb _really_ wants Santa to come," I told Iggy, who started cracking up.

"This is why I can't sleep!" Gazzy hollered, running out into the hall.

"What's that? I think it's the sound of "Santa" passing our house," I told Gazzy. His eyes widened.

"Obviously he's coming! He needs to give Max coal," Nudge replied.

Jeb sighed. "If anyone is still out of bed in the next minute, I can guarantee that Santa isn't coming."

Needless to say, everyone was in bed instantly. Even me. But of course, that was because I'd seen some presents from "Santa" addressed to me, sitting in Jeb's closet. There was no way I was missing out on that.

"Hey guys?" Gazzy asked from his room. "What if Santa-"

"GO TO SLEEP!" everyone else yelled.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

"Santa came!" Gazzy screamed in my ear the next morning. I bolted up in bed, then looked at him with an irritated expression.

"What was that for?" I asked, rolling my eyes. Angel and Nudge, who were jumping on my bed, shouted, "Let's open presents!"

I rubbed my eyes, then actually got a look at the clock.

"It's three in the morning!" I yelled at them. "Go back to sleep!"

"We can't!" Nudge whined. "That's the problem!"

I sighed, pulling my blanket back over my head. "Then go bug Jeb or something. Or Fang. Fang loves being bugged." I heard the pattering of their feet as they ran out of my room.

A few minutes, I heard Fang complaining, "Go away!"

I smiled, then drifted back to sleep until….

"Max, it's eight 'o' clock now and Jeb says you have to get up, because then otherwise we're never going to open presents and I'm going to die of waiting!"

I yawned, slowly getting out of my cozy bed. "Okay, fine. Let's go." I let them lead me into the other room, where Fang and Iggy were already sitting on the floor.

"Santa ate all the vegetables we put out for him!" Gazzy said excitedly, pointing at the empty plate on the table next to the tree.

I snickered. Poor Jeb.

"This one's for you!" Gazzy said, shoving a small gift-wrapped box into my arms. "I got it just for you!"

"Oh," I said, smiling at him. "Thanks." I tore off the wrapping, only to find some of Nudge's nail polish inside.

"That's mine!" Nudge wailed, snatching the box from me.

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't want it anyway!"

Gazzy didn't seem too upset. "That's okay, Nudge can have it!"

"They were mine in the first place!" Nudge retorted, hugging the box close.

I turned my attention to Angel, who, with Fang's help, was opening the teddy bear I'd bought her. She giggled and wrapped her arms around it, then climbed into my lap. "I'm naming it Beary!" she told me with a proud smile.

"Look at these Hot Wheels I got!" Gazzy shouted, racing the toy cars I'd given to him around the room. "I wonder what would happen if I threw them down the stairs! Or at Nudge!"

"Don't do that!" Nudge shrieked, ducking behind Fang, who was busy opening the CD I'd got for him.

He gave me a weird look, glancing back and forth between the CD and me. "I don't even like this band."

"You know what?" I yelled in exasperation. "No one cares!"

Iggy had let his rat out and had put it on his shoulder. That day at the mall, I had had practically no money. I still owed Fang so money for that rat that I would be in debt to him forever.

"Say hi to Ash, everyone!" Iggy told us. Nudge squealed in disgust and tried to hide under the Christmas tree. She'd already opened her gift from me – and no, it wasn't nail polish. I had bought her some Barbie she'd been begging for all year long.

"Max, you should open something!" Iggy told me as everyone else tore through gifts from each other and from "Santa," aka Jeb.

"I already did," I pointed out. "Nudge's nail polish."

Iggy laughed. "No, you should open the one from me! Right here!" He handed me a box that was sitting in front of him.

I shrugged. "Oh…okay!" Looking at the tag on the box, I realized it was from him. "You got this for me?"

"Just open it!" Iggy told me, grinning. I nodded and tore the paper off.

"What did you get?" Nudge asked, wrapping her arms around me. "I wanna see!"

I held it up. "A camera?"

Iggy nodded. "Yeah. That way you can take pictures, and always look back at the memories we shared." He looked like he was about to cry, but he was also smiling. Happy tears, I guess?

I hugged him. "This is awesome! Thanks!"

"Smile!"Gazzy yelled, grabbing the camera and aiming it at the two of us. We smiled…and smiled…and kept smiling until Gazzy added, "Oh. I think it needs batteries."

"Jeb!" Iggy called. "Do we have batteries?"

Jeb, who was in the process of making breakfast, poked his head out of the kitchen. "No, sorry."

Iggy looked disappointed. "It's okay, we don't need a camera to remember today," I told him, shrugging.

"Imaginary camera!"Gazzy announced, pretending to take a picture. Then he scrambled over to the pile of presents and began tearing more gifts open.

Somebody poked the top of my head, causing me to look up. Nudge was dangling some sort of plant over Iggy and me.

I arched an eyebrow at her. "Nudge, what are you doing?"

"Mistletoe!" she replied, with a triumphant smile. "It means you're supposed to kiss someone!"

I rolled my eyes. "Nudge, I'm not kissing you. Go get Fang to do that." Fang, overhearing the conversation, made a horrified expression as I snickered.

Nudge tapped her foot impatiently. "Not me! You're supposed to kiss Iggy!"

My face heated up. At least Iggy couldn't see my face, which I'm sure was bright red. How was I supposed to kiss him in front of everyone else! Well, I guess I'd kissed him on the cheek in front of our class before…but that was different. This was in front of the flock.

"Fine," I murmured, looking at Iggy. He didn't move, so I slowly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, blushing furiously.

Nudge wasn't satisfied. "No! You're supposed to kiss him on the-"

"Goodbye, Nudge!" I yelled, shoving her aside. Everyone else cracked up, breaking the silence.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Iggy teased me.

I rolled my eyes. "You're the one who was just sitting there frozen in horror."

He laughed. "No, I wasn't!"

"Too bad we didn't have any batteries for the camera," Nudge was saying. "Then I could have taken a picture and put it on Facebook."

"You don't even have a Facebook thing!" Gazzy yelled, throwing one of his new Hot Wheel cars right at Nudge. She shrieked, ducking out of the way.

"Come on," I said, standing up. "It's getting boring in here. Let's go do something fun."

"Like Christmas caroling?" Nudge asked.

I made a face. "No. Like…." I trailed off.

"Snowball fights!" Iggy offered, taking my hand.

"Building snowmen!" Angel shouted, jumping up and down and clinging to my other arm.

"Sledding?" Fang offered, shrugging.

"Don't forget hot chocolate and cookies!" Gazzy reminded us.

I nodded, laughing. "Yeah. That's right! Let's go!" I led the way outside, laughing as I realized we were all still in our pajamas.

"Attack!"Gazzy yelled, starting to hurl snowballs at everyone. I grinned as we fought back against him. Looking around, I saw the rest of my flock was smiling and laughing too.

This was the best Christmas ever.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

I sighed, slumping into the chair at my desk. After having two weeks off for winter break, going back to school wasn't exactly fun. Then again, school was never fun.

Mrs. Jenkins apparently decided she would make our first day back even worse. "Turn in your homework!" she ordered.

"Homework?" I whispered to Iggy. "On what?" He just shrugged.

The last two weeks had been awesome. We'd opened gifts, had plenty of snowball fights, and even got to set off some fireworks on New Year's Eve. Not to mention, there was no school. Unfortunately, I don't think Mrs. Jenkins had a good Christmas. Otherwise she wouldn't have given us homework.

I looked up at Mrs. Jenkins. "You didn't give us any homework."

She frowned. "Maxine, I most certainly did. You were supposed to create a project on a battle of the Civil War."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Who cares about some dumb civil war, anyway?"

Mrs. Jenkins' eyes narrowed. "Well, Maxine, perhaps you'd like to give an oral report of the Civil War?"

I gulped. "Uh, no, thanks-"

But it was too late. "Maxine will present her project first," she was telling the class. Everyone looked at me expectantly.

Slowly, I stood up. "Uh, the Civil War-"

"Face your classmates, Maxine," Mrs. Jenkins told me. I resisted the urge to yell, _My name is Max!_and punch something. Preferably Mrs. Jenkins' face.

I turned to face everyone else, very slowly. Maybe if I took long enough, the bell would ring for recess.

Everyone's eyes were on me. That was when I realized I knew nothing about the Civil War. Did Mrs. Jenkins even talk about that in class?

"Maxine, we're waiting," Mrs. Jenkins said in an annoyed tone.

I took a deep breath, then began. "Um. The Civil War was a war…that was civil. But actually, it wasn't very civil. Because war isn't civil. The end."

Everyone burst out laughing. I cracked a smile.

Mrs. Jenkins, though, was not laughing.

"Maxine, please describe to us in detail, a battle during the Civil War," she told me.

I bit my lip. Battles of the Civil War? I didn't know any of those.

I decided to just make things up as I went along.

"There was a battle called the Battle of Gettysburg," I said. I remembered that name from somewhere, so obviously that was one of the battles. "It took place at Gettysburg. And some people died. Actually, lots of people died. Then Paul Revere came and told everyone, "Run for your life, the British are coming!" so everyone ran away. Everyone forfeited and the war was over. The end."

The laughter from my classmates was even louder this time. The laughing went on for a good minute until Mrs. Jenkins interrupted and said, "Maxine, you may sit down now."

I grinned at Iggy as I sat down in my seat. Fang, on the other side of Iggy, rolled his eyes at me. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Thank you for that…._informative_ report," Mrs. Jenkins said, and I smirked. "But," she went on, "Paul Revere did not partake in the Civil War. He was in the Revolutionary War."

I shrugged. Oh, well. There wasn't much difference between the Civil War and the Revolutionary War, anyway. Mrs. Jenkins started going on and on about how I was all wrong, so I tuned her out. Finally the bell rang for recess.

Iggy and I were bolting out the door when we were stopped by someone.

"Hi!" Daisy said, smiling. Apparently, the whole "You-ruined-my-birthday" thing was forgotten, because she went on, "Max, I'm having a sleepover this weekend and I was wondering if you wanted to come. It's going to be fun!"

She just looked at me, until I realized she was waiting for an answer.

"Oh," I said, stupidly nodding. "Uh, okay."

Daisy smiled. "Great! You know my address, right? Great! It's this Friday! Don't forget!" Then she ran off to recruit more people for the Sleepover Party of Doom.

I looked over at Iggy. "Sleepover? What was I thinking, agreeing to that?"

"You can do manicures and watch girly movies," Iggy told me, laughing.

I rolled my eyes. "You would know about that. Besides, it's not funny! I'm just not going to go to the party. It doesn't matter."

"Hi, Max!" someone shouted, throwing their arms around me. The loud, annoying voice could only belong to one person.

No, it wasn't Fang.

"Jaz," I muttered. "Get off of me."

"Did you hear about Daisy's sleepover?" she asked as I peeled her arms off of me. "It's going to be so much fun!"

"Yeah…" I mumbled. "_Really_ fun."

"You're going too, right?" she asked. Before I could tell her that I wasn't, Iggy spoke up.

"Of course Max is going!" he told Jaz with a grin.

I gave him my best You-are-so-dead glare, which was lost on him, of course.

Jaz smiled. "Cool!"

I frowned. There was no way I'd survive this dumb sleepover.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

"Maaaaax!" Jaz yelled, knocking on the door. "It's time to go to the sleepover!"

My eyes widened. I'd forgotten all about that dumb sleepover. Glancing at Fang, I whispered, "Tell her I'm not here!"

Fang rolled his eyes at me, but unfortunately, Nudge was the first to reach the door. "Hi Jaz! Max is really excited about the sleepover!" I heard her say.

"No I'm noooot!" I shouted, running to the door and slamming it right in Jaz's face.

Nudge made a face at me. "What was that all about?"

"Shhh, I'm not here!" I told Nudge, then looked around for a place to hide.

"Max, I know you're in there!" Jaz called, banging on the door and ringing the doorbell about fifty times.

"I….have to get ready!" I shouted, then ran upstairs to my room and slammed the door and shoved my dresser in front of the door. I sat down on my floor, relieved. There was no way Jaz could force me into going now.

A tap at my window made me look up. Then there was another tap, and another. I ran to the window – I mean, it was on the second floor! Jaz couldn't get up here.

A rock hit the window right before I pulled it open. Oh. That was what had made the tapping.

"Hi, Max!" Jaz called, waving.

I groaned, slamming my palm into my forehead. "Jaz, I'm not going!"

"Yes, you are!" she insisted.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Nope. There's no way you can possibly make me go."

"Max, dinner is ready," Jeb's voice called from downstairs. I glared at Jaz one last time, shut the window, and made my way downstairs.

The problem here, though, was that Jeb wasn't even around. And there wasn't even any food to be seen anywhere.

I frowned, then noticed Gazzy, who was covering his mouth with his hands, stifling his laughter. I grimaced. Leave it to Gazzy to play one of his annoying mimicry jokes on me-

"Oh good, Max is ready to go!" Nudge cheered, grabbing my arm.

"Huh? I'm not going anywhere!" I protested. Jaz burst in through the door and grabbed my other arm.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she squealed as they pulled me out to her mom's car –with some difficulty, as I kept struggling to get away from them.

"I doubt it," I muttered.

~~::~~

"Makeover time!" Daisy shrieked, holding up a pink plastic box filled with all sorts of makeup junk.

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. Okay, so Plan A – escape from Jaz and avoid the sleepover – had failed. Now I needed a way to escape the actual sleepover.

Jaz pried my hands away from my face. "I bet Max wants a makeover!"

My expression turned from annoyance to horror. "No, I don't!"

"Max, you would look so pretty with eyeliner!" Daisy told me, and a couple of the other girls nodded.

"No!" I protested, backing away, but Jaz grabbed my arm. "Come on, Max! It's fun to do makeup!"

I made a face at her. "No, it's not." Before I could get another word in, Daisy was practically lunging at me with a bright red lipstick in her hand.

I backed up right into the corner. There was no escape route except for the window, and I considered the problem of Which is worse: Getting a makeover or letting every girl in the fifth grade see my wings?

I didn't have time to ponder that problem because Jaz was already starting to apply blush to my cheeks while Daisy was pulling a pencil out of her makeup box.

My eyes widened. "What's that pencil for?" I asked as I shoved Jaz's hand out of my face.

"It's eyeliner!" Daisy informed me. "Now open your eyes wide."

I shook my head. "No! There's no way you're sticking a pencil in my eye-"

Too late. Daisy was already applying the eyeliner. "Don't blink!" she told me. "Don't even move."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. There was no way I was getting some dumb pencil stuck in my eye.

After Daisy finished one eye, I tried to escape, but all the girls were surrounding us now, blocking my escape route. Maybe they enjoyed watching someone get tortured.

"Mascara!" Daisy announced, applying some. I blinked about twenty times while she tried to apply it, so eventually she gave up halfway through applying it.

"One last thing- eye shadow!" Daisy said as she brushed something onto my eyelids. By now, I'd decided that I'd just run to the bathroom as soon as I could and wipe all the junk off my face.

"There!" she proclaimed, "All done!" She held up a mirror to my face as all the other girls oohed and aahed.

I peered into the mirror. The person I saw in the mirror was almost unrecognizable.

All of the makeup made me look much older – like an eighth grader, at least.

I stared in shock at my reflection for a moment. For once in my life, I looked like….a girl.

"AAAAAH!" I yelled, leaping up and running down the hall to the bathroom.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

"Max, you should come out now!" Jaz yelled, banging on the door.

"Why?" I yelled back, desperately scrubbing my face with a towel that I'd found. "So you guys can put more of that makeup junk on me?"

"But Max, you looked good with makeup!"

I rolled my eyes. "That's a lie and you know it. There's no way I'm coming out. Go away."

For once, Jaz didn't say anything. Finally, I heard the sound of her retreating footsteps and breathed a sigh of relief, then looked around the bathroom. There was a tiny window that probably not even Angel would fit through. It looked like I'd have to find another escape method.

I unlocked the door and peered out into the hall. No one was around, so I cautiously crept out of the bathroom, looking for an exit. I could just open a window and fly out, but Daisy lived in a freaking mansion. No doubt there was really good security here.

As I tiptoed down the spiral staircase, a shadow made me freeze. Crap, someone was down here. It was probably Daisy, getting more snacks.

"Hello, Maximum Ride," a man said, walking towards me. I scowled. It was Daisy's father, of course.

Recap: Daisy's dad was working for the School the last time we met, which was at his daughter's birthday party. Besides escaping his Erasers, we also destroyed his very lavish ballroom where Daisy was having her party. He most likely hated us even more now.

"Uh…hello?" I said. "I was just….looking for the bathroom."

Daisy's dad made no attempt to point me in the direction of a bathroom. "I knew we'd meet again, Maximum Ride."

"Well, duh," I replied despite my fear that Erasers would suddenly attack me or something. "Daisy probably told you. She's having a sleepover, after all."

His arm shot out and he grabbed my wrist. "I'm afraid you're coming with me."

"I'm afraid I don't give a crap!" I shouted, kneeing him right in the….er, a bad place. Let's just go with that. He lost his grip on my wrist and I turned and bolted back up the stairs.

"You are coming back to the School with me, Maximum!" he shouted, sounding like he was in serious pain.

"I don't think so," I replied with a smirk as I reached the top step. "From the looks of it, you can't even get up!"

"I need backup!" he shouted.

Backup? Okay, that didn't sound good. I turned and ran down the hall, trying to remember the way to Daisy's room. Maybe he wouldn't haul me off to the School with his daughter and all her friends watching?

As I raced down the hall, I realized what Daisy's dad had meant by 'backup'. Two guards were blocking my way, standing in the middle of the hall.

"Come on, little girl," one of them said, as suddenly they began morphing into Erasers. "Don't you want to go home?"

My fists clenched. "The School is not my home! It never will be!" I shouted, roundhouse kicking the first guy in the chest. I heard his breath whoosh out as the other guy grabbed my arms and twisted them behind my back. The guy I'd kicked started punching me as I struggled to break away.

"Max?" a familiar voice cried. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daisy, flanked by all the other girls. Jaz's eyes were wide. Most of the other girls looked shocked, both at the Erasers and my now bloody face.

"Now, that's enough," Daisy's father said, appearing on the other side of us. "Let's not damage it."

"I'm not an it," I spat, grimacing as blood continued to run down my face.

"Dad?" Daisy's voice sounded shrill. "What….what's going on?"

Daisy's dad crossed over to her. "Daisy. This girl, Max, is not really your friend. She is dangerous. A menace to society."

"What?" I protested. "No, I'm not! Daisy, your dad is lying. He's evil. And he wants to kill me. If you ask me, he's the one that's a menace to society."

"What's going on?" Daisy shrieked again. "There's these strange….things in our house!" She pointed at the Erasers. "Isn't that a little more dangerous?"

Her father shook his head, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Daisy, they're not going to hurt you or any of your friends."

"They hurt Max," she pointed out, her voice steely.

Daisy's dad shook his head. "Maximum Ride isn't like you. She's not your friend. She's very, very different." I scowled. The Eraser was still holding on tightly to me, and his claws were digging into my skin. I screamed out in pain as blood ran down my arm.

I took a deep breath. "Listen, Daisy. I'm not sure how to tell you this, but-"

"Enough talking," her father said, striding over to me. "Now, Daisy, you will see exactly why I must do away with Maximum Ride. She's very dangerous."

"What are you talking about?" Daisy protested. "Do you mean Max? Because Max isn't dangerous! She wouldn't hurt anyone!" Daisy looked at me. "Right, Max?"

"Uh…" I hesitated, then looked at Daisy's dad. "Yeah. Now what do you want with me?" I felt kind of faint, and I realized that it was from all the blood I was losing.

He smiled, but it was one of those cruel smiles. Then he looked at the Erasers that were holding me and uttered two words.

"Show them."

My eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about and I tried to pull away, but two Erasers against an eleven-year-old mutant bird kid were kind of tough to beat.

They forced me to the ground and one of them yanked off my already-shredded jacket, revealing my wings.

A collective gasp rose up from the girls. Daisy looked horrified. The rest of the girls were staring at me as if….as if I wasn't even human.

Except Jaz already knew….wait. Jaz was missing.

"Stay away from Max!" I heard her voice yell from somewhere behind me, and then something struck Daisy's father on the head and he collapsed.

Daisy screamed. Jaz grabbed my arm while the Erasers were distracted and started running. "Come on, Max!" she yelled as we ran down the long hallway.

"Okay…" I agreed, not feeling so well. I wondered how much blood I'd lost. Judging from the fact that I was covered in blood, I'd say a lot.

Then Jaz stopped and I slammed right into her. "A dead end," she grumbled. I looked around. The only choice was a window, but-

"Go!" Jaz yelled, opening the window. Alarms started going off. I heard the snarls of the Erasers coming from somewhere down the hall.

Jaz shoved me towards the window. "Come on!" she yelled.

"Jaz." I glared at her. "As annoying as you are, I can't leave you here."

Jaz bit her lip, looking around nervously. "I'll be fine. They don't want to hurt me," she replied. "I think."

I started to object but she was practically shoving me out the window now.

"Careful!" I yelled at her, losing my patience with her.

"They're down there!" I heard one of the Erasers shout. Then they were suddenly running towards us, incredibly close.

"Go before they catch you!" Jaz ordered. "I'll be fine!"

Without another second of hesitation, I stood up on the windowsill and leaped. The Erasers growled and clawed at me, but they were just a second too late.

I grinned weakly as I soared away, hoping Jaz would be safe. Just because she was annoying didn't mean I wanted her to risk her life for me.

As I flew, the wind beating against my face and whipping my hair around, I thought about how Daisy and all the other girls had seen my wings. What did they think of me? Probably by tomorrow, the whole school would know our secret. We'd be forced to move.

Back when I'd started school, moving hadn't seemed like such a bad option. But now, I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. What about all the people I'd met?

But if it was to keep the rest of the flock safe…

I frowned. I'd think about it again later.

Suddenly I realized I was flying way too low. I was much weaker than normal and – I was going to crash!

I screamed as I smashed right into a field. Somehow I survived, but I felt sore all over. I wondered if I was going to die.

Weakly, I noticed something bright in the darkness. A beam of light hit my face and I winced, which hurt a lot.

"There's someone out here!" I heard someone call, right before I blacked out.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The first thing that I realized when I woke up was that I was in a strange, unfamiliar place. I leaped out of the bed as a wave of pain shot through my body. Collapsing back on the bed, I realized that maybe that wasn't such a good idea, and the events of the previous night came flooding back to me.

Daisy's dad tried to kill me. In fact, he nearly did kill me. Looking at my arms and legs, I noticed that they were bandaged. Which made me think of something else – where exactly was I?

My first thought was the School, but knowing them, I'd be in a dog crate and not a bed. Plus, they wouldn't take the time to put bandages on me.

How far was I from home? Did the rest of the flock even know where I was? I started making an escape plan. There was a window that I could crawl through so I could fly away. It wouldn't be easy, with my injuries, but I could do it.

I started to stand up again. That was when the door opened. I fell back onto my bed in surprise as an unfamiliar lady peered at me curiously.

"You're awake," she said.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "No duh. Who are you? Are you with the School?"

She looked confused. "What do you mean?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. Of course, she could be pretending, so I would keep my guard up. "Whatever. Where am I, anyway?"

The lady came in and sat down on the edge of the bed. I scooted away from her. She shook her head. "We found you last night, passed out behind our house. You…uh, looked like you….crash-landed."

My eyes widened. Did that mean she'd seen my wings? But the lady didn't say anything else on the subject. Instead, she told me, "I'm Caroline," she told me, holding out her hand for me to shake.

I glared at her, not saying anything. The less she knew about me, the better.

She sighed, standing up. "Well, if you're hungry, we have breakfast waiting."

I shook my head. "No. I need to leave."

Caroline looked at me. "You're injured. I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to leave yet."

I frowned. "No, I have to go. My flock – I mean, family is probably worried about me. I need to get back."

Caroline shook her head. "You can't leave yet. You'll hurt yourself even more, and I won't allow it." With that, she left the room and closed the door.

I crossed my arms over my chest, thinking. Too bad for her. There was a window, and I was leaving. Slowly, I stood up, my legs shaking. As I crossed the room to the window, I thought, _This isn't too bad._My injuries always healed quickly, so I was sure I'd be fine within the next couple of minutes.

I shoved the window open and climbed up onto the windowsill, which made my arms and legs ache. I tried not to pay attention to that.

"Bye," I whispered with a smirk, unfurling my wings.

Right before I could fly away, the door opened again. Caroline had come in, carrying a tray filled with food. When she saw me, she dropped the tray and ran over to the window, grabbing me.

"Let me go!" I yelled, flailing my arms and legs as she pulled me away from the window.

"No!" she yelled back. "What are you thinking, trying to jump out of the window? Were you trying to kill yourself?"

"No!" I shouted, breaking free from her grip and darting back to the window. "I told you, I'm leaving. I need to get back to my flock!"

For the first time, she looked at my wings. "You…can really fly with those?" she asked, sounding shocked. I guess most people would be pretty shocked.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "How do you think I got here, anyway?"

She shook her head. "I know you want to find your family, but you need to rest. You should come have some breakfast, and maybe you'll feel better after that." She kneeled down. "Let's start over. I'm Caroline. And you are?"

"Max," I muttered, looking away from her. I hated people that treated me like a kid. I mean, I was eleven. I could take care of myself.

She smiled. "Come on, Max. Breakfast is ready." She stood up and reached out her hand to me.

I rolled my eyes and walked past her. I wouldn't be seen holding her hand like a little baby. And as soon as I was done eating breakfast, I would be out of this place.

~~::~~

Fang glanced out the window, frowning. Max had gone to that sleepover and never came back. _Knowing Max_, Fang thought to himself, _she's in some kind of trouble._

"Faaaang?" Nudge whined, looking up at him. "When's Max coming back? Is she okay? What if something happened to her and she needs our help? We need to go find her!"

Fang nodded, just as the phone rang. "I'll get it!" Nudge yelled, running to the phone and picking it up.

"It's Jaz!" Nudge called a few seconds later, holding the phone out to Fang. "She says it's super important!"

Gazzy ran into the room, followed by Iggy and Angel. "Is it about Max?" Gazzy cried.

Fang shrugged, taking the phone from Nudge. "Hello?"

"Fang!"Jaz's voice practically shrieked on the other end. "About Max, did she ever make it home last night?"

"No," Fang said, frowning. If Jaz didn't know where Max was, they might have a serious problem on their hands.

"Well….Daisy's dad turned out to be…well, evil," Jaz continued, sounding panicked. Fang nodded – he'd already known that. "And he hurt Max. She flew away, but I didn't know if she made it home okay. I have no idea where she is."

"You're sure she got away?" Fang asked.

"Yeah. Positive!" Jaz paused, then added, "I hope she's okay. I hope you guys find her."

Fang nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Jaz." They said their goodbyes, and Fang hung up the phone, turning to face the others.

Four worried bird-kids looked back at him. "What are we gonna do, Fang?" Nudge asked, looking like she was about to cry.

Fang put his hand on her shoulder. It was time for him to be the leader again.

"We're going to find Max," he said.


	37. Chapter 37

**Sorry for the late post, everyone! I've been pretty busy lately.**

Chapter 37

"Everyone ready?" Fang asked, opening the front door. Nudge ran up to him, tugging on his shirt. "What about Jeb? Shouldn't we tell him where we're going? He could help us find Max!"

Fang shook his head. "Jeb's at work. Besides, we'll be fine."

"Well, let's go then!" Iggy said in an irritated tone. "Max could be in trouble and you're just standing around talking."

Fang nodded. "Right." He picked up little Angel and led the way out the door, then unfurled his wings and turned to look at the rest of the flock behind him. "Come on."

"Let's go find Max!" Gazzy yelled, spreading his wings and taking off. Everyone else followed his lead, and soon they were soaring high up in the sky.

"Where are we going?" Nudge yelled over the wing.

Fang sighed. "I'm not entirely sure."

"You don't even know where we're going?" Iggy groaned. "Some leader you are."

Fang rolled his eyes, then thought to himself, _Where would Max go if she was in trouble?_

In his arms, Angel started singing, "Old MacDonald had a farm!" Fang chuckled softly, then looked around at the rest of the flock. "Any ideas?"

Angel's singing got louder. "And on that farm he had some cows! Eeieei o!"

Fang frowned. That wasn't helping him concentrate very much.

"Angel, I hate that song!" Gazzy yelled at his sister. "It doesn't even make any sense!"

Angel stopped singing, looking up at Fang. "Farm!" she said happily. "Cows!"

Fang sighed. "Angel, we'll go to the farm later." He wondered how Max could stand leading this crazy bunch of kids all the time.

Then suddenly, he had an epiphany. "Wait. Angel. The farm, right?"

Angel nodded. "We can go to the farm with Max!"

Fang nodded back. "Where's the farm?"

Iggy sighed. "I think Fang is losing his mind."

Fang ignored him, as Angel pointed in the other direction. "Farm over there!" she exclaimed, then went back to singing. Fang nodded, very thankful for Angel's mind-reading powers right now. For a three-year-old, she was incredibly smart.

"Alright, I think I know where to go," Fang told the flock, turning to face them.

Iggy frowned. "Fang, I'm sorry to break it to you, but we don't have time to go milk cows or anything."

Fang sighed in exasperation. "No, Max is on a farm! That's what Angel said."

Nudge, Gazzy, and even Iggy (well, kind of) gave him strange looks. "Uh, okay," Nudge said, raising an eyebrow.

Fang shook his head. "It sounds crazy right now. But just trust me." Angel was right…Fang wasn't sure how he could tell, but he knew she was right. "We're heading east."

Fang could only hope that Max wasn't in too much danger right now.

~~::~~

"These are great," I said, finishing off what might be my ninth pancake. Caroline – the lady who lived here, remember? – just smiled as if that wasn't weird at all. I set down my fork. "Thanks. But I really need to go now."

Caroline shook her head. "No, Max. I don't think you should….um, fly yet. Why don't I give you a tour of the farm?"

My eyes widened. "Farm? You mean, with actual cows and horses and stuff?" Man, Nudge and Angel would love that. But they weren't here. I needed to get back to them. "No thanks," I added quickly, standing up. "I feel better already."

Caroline frowned. "But you are very injured. Perhaps-"

"I heal quicker than the average person," I told her, crossing my arms over my chest. Then I realized it probably wasn't the best idea to give out any more information and shut my mouth.

Her eyes widened. "Max, may I ask….how exactly did you become like this?"

I shook my head, frowning.

She sighed. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"No!" I yelled at her, my fists clenching. "You don't understand! And you never will understand anything about me!" I pushed past her, running to the door and shoving it open and burst out into the fresh air. I took a deep breath, smiling slightly as I extended my wings and prepared to get a running start.

But just as I started running, someone grabbed me. I turned to see a bearded man in overalls – some sort of farmer guy, obviously – holding my arm tightly.

"Let me go!" I yelled, kicking at him. These people probably worked for the School – that's why they wouldn't let me leave! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Caroline with her hands over her mouth, probably still in shock at my wings. I guess I tended to have that effect on people.

"You'll hurt yourself," the man said.

I shook my head. "No! You're wrong! I said, let me go!" I managed to yank my arm out of his grip and ran forward before they could catch me again, then leaped into the air and began frantically beating my wings. Except I only got a few feet off the ground before my wings crumpled with pain and I fell to the ground, groaning.

"Max!" Caroline yelled, running up to me, followed by the farmer guy. "Max, are you alright?"

"I've been better," I muttered, slowly pulling myself up off the ground.

"Max, you can't do dangerous things like that!" Caroline said, putting her hands on my shoulders. I shrugged them off.

"I can do whatever I want!" I told her, frowning and crossing my arms over my chest

Caroline just shook her head. "Please don't try that again. You'll only hurt yourself more." She smiled a bit. "Now how about a tour of the farm?"

I looked away from her. "Whatever."

"Great!" she replied, apparently not understanding that I wanted to be left alone. "Now over here is the barn…"

I looked up at the sky, frowning. Maybe if I waited a couple hours until trying to fly again… I needed to get back to my flock as soon as possible.

~~::~~  
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer!" the Gasman belted at the top of his lungs.

"Faaaaang, I'm hungry!" Nudge whined.

Iggy groaned. "Nudge, you ate all of our granola bars and you're still hungry?"

"Take one down and pass it around!" Gazzy continued to sing.

"Maybe we could stop at a McDonalds," Nudge said, frowning.

"Yeah, if we had any money!" Iggy retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall!" Gazzy screamed.

"Everyone shut up," Fang muttered, annoyed at the rest of the flock.

"At least I'm not singing Old McDonald had a farm," Gazzy pointed out.

"I want to go to McDonalds," Nudge begged.

"Maybe you can ask Max when we find her," Fang said, gritting his teeth.

Nudge nodded. "Yeah! Great idea!" Then she looked like she was going to start crying. "I miss Max!"

That made Angel start crying too. Fang sighed. This was worse than that road trip they took to California. He had to put up with these four annoying, hungry, tired flock members.

"All there is around here is empty land," Gazzy said, looking downward. "And some farms. Are you sure Max wasn't at any of the farms we passed?"

Fang shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she's not. Angel would've said something."

"Angel isn't a human GPS," Iggy sighed. "She's three years old."

"Guys!" Nudge yelled, pointing. Fang frowned. Nudge probably found a McDonalds or something.

But when he looked where Nudge was pointing, he saw tiny people down below on a farm. Normal humans wouldn't be able to make out the faces of the people, but the flock wasn't exactly normal. Thanks to his raptor vision, Fang could tell who it was.

He nodded. "It's Max. We found Max."


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

"And over there is where we keep the horses," Caroline was saying. I sighed, rolling my eyes at her. That dumb lady actually thought I was interested in her stupid farm. Maybe I would be, if I was three years old like Angel.

Angel. And the rest of the flock. I had to get back to them. Sure, maybe I still wasn't able to fly yet, but I had to find a way.

"Max!" I thought I heard Angel say. Great. Now I missed them so much that I was hearing things.

Then someone tackled me from behind. I winced in pain, as my injuries were definitely not healed yet. But all of that didn't matter as soon as I saw who was hugging me.

"Nudge! Gazzy!" I exclaimed, hugging the two younger kids. "How did you find me?"

"Well," Nudge started. "Angel started singing 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' so Fang said we had to go east and then I saw you!"

"Riiiight," I muttered, completely confused by her explanation. I looked up to see Fang running towards us with Angel in his arms and Iggy following very closely behind him, listening to his footsteps.

I grinned. "Hey, ."

"Max, who's that lady?" Gazzy asked, pointing at Caroline. Oh….right. I'd forgotten about her. She was just standing there with her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide as she stared at everyone's wings. I sighed in exasperation.

"That's Caroline. She…uh, helped me. I guess," I explained, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Helped you?" Nudge asked. "How?"

"It's kind of a long story, but I got hurt. I'll explain it to you later," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "That's just like Max, always getting herself in trouble."

I laughed, elbowing him. "Missed you too, Ig."

"Come on," Fang said, shifting Angel in his arms. "Let's get out of here."

"You're leaving already?" Caroline asked, frowning. "Max still isn't healed enough to leave. She should really-"

"I'm fine," I said, seriously starting to get exasperated with this lady. "We don't need your help. I know you want to help, but I'm fine."

"Do you have a family?" she asked softly. "A mom or dad?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Of course we do."

Caroline shook her head. "Max, you can trust me."

There was a part of me that wanted to say, _Alright, I'll trust you. Thanks for helping me._ But the stubborn eleven-year-old part of me came out instead.

I turned my back on her. "I can't trust anyone."

Letting go of Nudge and Gazzy's hands, I looked around at the rest of my flock. "Come on. Let's go."

Fang nodded. "Right."

Hoping that I'd be able to get off the ground this time, I unfurled my wings, then got a running start, without looking back at Caroline or anyone else. My wings faltered at first and for a second I thought I would crash to the ground, but then I beat them faster and began rising higher. The rest of the flock wasn't far behind. Although every time I flapped my wings my whole body ached with pain, I was back up here in the sky, with the people I loved the most.

Caroline was far below, looking up at us. I shook my head, glancing away. Sure, she'd been annoying….but she'd helped me out. If it wasn't for her, I might still be lying unconscious in a field somewhere.

I hesitated, then yelled, "Thanks for everything!" and waved frantically at her. At first I wasn't sure if she'd heard, but then she looked at me and smiled, waving back.

Maybe outsiders weren't as bad as I'd thought. I mean, Jaz was the most annoying person in the world, but she'd helped me out too.

"Max, are you going soft?" Iggy asked, laughing.

"No way!" I yelled, shoving him to the side. He just laughed some more and flew above me near Nudge, who was babbling to Gazzy about horses or something.

"It's good to have Invincible Leader Max back," Fang smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him, but then grinned. "Whatever. It's good to be back."

"You have a lot of explaining to do!" Nudge yelled from somewhere about me.

I sighed. "Oh…. that. It's a long story."

"So Daisy's dad is still out to get us?" Nudge asked when I was done explaining.

I frowned. "He nearly killed me. Which means that…" my eyes widened. "The School isn't trying to get us back. They're trying to get rid of us." Well, we were their possibly most successful experiments ever, and we'd escaped. For all I knew, they'd made a new and improved version of us.

The thought made me shudder.

"Alright, here's what we have to do," I said, frowning.

"Great, one of Max's plans. Those always go well," Iggy teased me.

"Oh, you shut up!" I yelled at him, frowning. "Anyway," I continued. "We have to find a way to get rid of Daisy's dad. Once and for all."

"How?" Fang asked.

I thought about it, then smiled. "I think I have an idea."


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

"We're going to be taking another field trip," Mrs. Jenkins announced the next morning.

"We're going to trip in fields again?" Iggy whispered to me, which made me laugh a little too loudly.

Mrs. Jenkins gave us one of her famous glares, then started handing out permission slips. "I'm sure you're all very excited to know that we will be going on an overnight trip to our state's capitol, Denver."

Most of the class cheered. I crossed my arms over my chest. "What's so great about Denver?"

Mrs. Jenkins started droning on about how great it was to see the Capitol building and other boring stuff while I tuned her out, thinking back to the previous night's conversation.

"The plan is act like nothing ever happened?" Iggy had asked, frowning. "But what about-"

I had shushed him. "Don't tell Jeb. He still thinks that I just went to a sleepover. Let's keep it that way."

"But Max, there's people out to get us!" Nudge had cried. "They want to kill us! And they might even know where we live!"

"I know that," I had replied, sighing. "But do you guys really want to move?" Truth is, I was finally getting used to living here and going to school like a normal kid. We hadn't exactly had normal lives up until this point.

Well, most normal kids didn't have evil people trying to kill them. But I'd figure out what to do about that.

"I'm sure Max doesn't have an actual plan yet," Fang had added with a small smirk.

"Of course I do!" I had yelled at him.

Note to self: Think of an actual plan.

Soon.

~~::~~

"Max!" Jaz shrieked, running over to me at recess. "I'm glad you're okay! I thought you died or something!" She threw her arms around me and squeezed me tightly. "Those Erasers were scary! I can't believe-"

"Shut up!" I hissed, pushing her off of me. "Do you want the whole school to hear?" Luckily, most of Daisy's friends didn't go to our school, since they'd seen my wings at Daisy's sleepover after her lunatic father tried to kill me. Daisy, however….

I glanced around, finally spotting her over by the water fountain, talking to her friends. That was when she suddenly looked over at me coldly.

I shuddered. Great, the girl probably hated me just like her dad did. As she walked over to me, I braced myself for a fight.

Instead of trying to fight me, though, she just stopped when she was a few feet in front of me.

"Daisy," I started before she could say anything. "I'm really sorry about your sleepover. And how I think I might've destroyed some things in your really fancy house. And possibly ruined your sleepover. I mean, I didn't even want to go. Jaz forced me to."

"Hey!" Jaz protested.

Daisy shook her head. "It's okay. I just….wasn't expected you to have….you know." She looked at her feet.

I shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. "Uh. Yeah. Um, sorry about that, I guess?" I considered backing away slowly, in case she decided she wanted to kill me or something. Maybe her creepy dad was hiding in the bushes, ready to jump out and grab me.

Suddenly, Daisy looked up so quickly that I jumped. "No!" she said, grabbing my hands. "I think it's actually really cool!"

I stared at her like she was crazy. "Keep it down, okay? You sound like Jaz."

"Hey!" Jaz yelled at me again.

I glanced anxiously at Daisy. Jeez, I hoped she wouldn't ask to come over to my house like Jaz did every day. For all I knew, she was just trying to get information out of me.

Daisy frowned. "I'm really sorry about my dad and… you know. It's weird, he pays more attention to his research than he does to me."

I bit my lip, not really sure what to say. I was never good in emotional cases, especially not when it had to do with feeling sorry for the daughter of the guy that tried to kill me multiple times. "Oh."

"Hey, Max, aren't you excited for the field trip?" Jaz asked, coming to my rescue and changing the subject. For once I actually felt grateful for Jaz's annoying tendency to interrupt people.

I managed to do my best smile. "Oh, yeah. I can't wait to see the White House!"

"The White House is in Washington DC," Daisy said, giving me a weird look.

I shrugged. "Oh, well. Same difference."

"Yeah," Daisy responded, looking behind her. "I… I think I'll catch up with you guys later. I forgot I have some homework I had to do."

"That's weird, Daisy never forgets to do her homework," Jaz informed me as Daisy walked away.

I frowned. "Maybe she had to go to the bathroom or something."

Jaz shrugged. "Yeah, but wouldn't she just say that instead? I bet she's up to something super secret! We should go find out!"

"Yeah, have fun," I muttered, starting to walk away, but Jaz grabbed my arm. I could have easily broken away from her grip, but something stopped me.

"Please? We can act like spies! Or ninjas! Ninja spies!" Jaz begged.

I rolled my eyes. "Here's a better idea. Let's act like regular fifth-graders."

"Regular is boring!" Jaz told me, sticking her tongue out. "You of all people should know that, Max."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her again. "Whatever. Let's go, James Bond."

"Yes!" she cheered, running in the direction that Daisy had walked off in. "We're gonna be the best spies ever!" This made half of the people in our section of the playground and stare at her strangely.

"Not the quietest spies ever, that's for sure," I muttered as I reluctantly followed her.

~~::~~

"This is weird, I can't find Daisy anywhere! Over!" Jaz whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "Jaz, you don't need to say 'over' every time you say something."

"Okay, Max! Over!"

I resisted the urge to slap her. "Are we done yet? We're missing recess."

"Maybe she's in here!" Jaz yelled, pointing to a random door.

I grimaced, looking at the label on the door. "The janitor's closet? I didn't know Daisy was a janitor."

"Maybe… the janitor is secretly working for the School and he wants to kill you!" she said dramatically.

"With what, a mop?" I asked, groaning. "Jaz, just give it a rest."

She sighed. "Alright. Fine. I was just trying to have some fun. Come on, I need to go fix my hair!" Before I knew it, Jaz was dragging me into the bathroom.

I glanced at her. "Jaz, you don't need to be fixing your hair. You're like, ten."

"I'm eleven, and yes, I do need to fix my hair," Jaz said, and started babbling about, like, hairspray or something. I rolled my eyes again and looked around, bored and waiting for her to finish.

Suddenly, Jaz went silent. "Look!" she whispered, pointing excitedly. I recognized the sparkly pink shoe that belonged to the foot in the farthest bathroom stall – it was Daisy, no doubt about it.

"I bet-" but that was the last thing Jaz said, because I slammed my hand over her mouth. Daisy, after a few minutes of silence from Jaz and me, must have assumed we were gone because she started talking.

"Hi….. Yeah, I know. I talked to Max."

"Is she talking to herself?" Jaz whispered. "Over."

I made the universal gesture for "be quiet," holding my index finger up to my lips and making what I hoped was a threatening face.

"Alright," Daisy was saying. "I'll find out, don't worry….. Okay. Yeah…Bye, Dad." Then I heard the sound of the door to her stall unlocking and Jaz shoved me into the stall closest to us. I almost started yelling at her, but caught myself in time.

"Oh, hi, Jaz," Daisy's voice sounded surprised, and a bit embarrassed. She obviously hadn't wanted to be heard.

"Hi!" Jaz's voice was overly cheery, as usual. "I'm just fixing my hair. Do you think I should wear it like this, or how about this? Or maybe-"

"Was that the bell?" I heard Daisy say. "It's probably time to go to class. I'll see you around." I heard her footsteps receding, and then Jaz yanked the door open – I'd never bothered to lock it.

She frowned at me. "Now what?"

"Well, there's a 95 percent chance that Daisy is evil," I said, looking at her. "What else is new?"


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be going on the field trip while you-know-who is coming?" Jaz whispered a few weeks later, poking me.

I frowned. "Yeah. I guess." For obvious reasons, I hadn't told Jeb about Daisy's possible evil-ness. Although I hadn't told the rest of the flock either, for once. Jaz was the only other person that had heard Daisy's conversation with her father, and for once, she wasn't saying a word about it except to me.

"Alright, but if she starts acting funny… I'll take care of her!" Jaz decided, throwing a few (pretty bad) punches.

I laughed a bit as we climbed on the bus, heavy duffel bags in tow. "Alright, Jaz."

"Back here!" Iggy called, recognizing my voice even from the back of the bus. He did have pretty great hearing. Fang was sitting next to him, looking grumpy as usual.

I smiled. "Coming, uh, Jeff." I started to walk away from Jaz who normally sat in the front of the bus, but she followed me.

I glanced at her. "Uh, hi," I said, sitting down in the seat behind Iggy and Fang.

"Hi!" Jaz replied with one her huge trademark smiles. "Isn't this going to be a great field trip? We just have to hope that Daisy doesn't go all evil on-"

"Shush!" I yelled, elbowing her in the ribs and making almost everyone on the bus look at us. I waved at them weakly. "Um, hi everyone."

As soon as everyone went back to their own business, I glared at Jaz. "You keep your mouth quiet. You almost gave us away!"

Jaz clamped her hands over her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she apologized, her voice muffled. Then she put her hands down and started talking again. "You know what I'm most excited to see? The Capitol building! Because…."

I groaned, looking out the window and hoping the bus would start moving soon. "Does anyone have some duct tape?"

"No, why?" Jaz asked, unfortunately hearing me. I groaned again and felt like banging my head against the window.

"Hello, class," Mrs. Jenkins said suddenly from the front of the bus. "I'm sure you're all very excited about the field trip!"

"Yay," I muttered sarcastically while people clapped. I wasn't excited if I was going to be sitting next to Jaz all the way to Denver.

"Here's Keith, our bus driver," Mrs. Jenkins continued. "He's going to tell us some important rules about bus safety."

"That's boring," I whispered to Jaz.

"Shhh!" she whispered, then looked back at Keith the bus driver, listening intently.

I ignored the boring bus rules until finally I realized that the bus was pulling away from the curb. "Finally!" I cheered, and a bunch of other people started cheering too.

Mrs. Jenkins marched her way down the aisle to the back of the bus where we were sitting. "Maxine, we do not cheer loudly on the bus in the fifth grade!" she reprimanded me. "It could distract the bus driver."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Whatever. It's not my fault everyone started cheering."

"You started it," Jaz reminded me as Mrs. Jenkins started walking back towards the front of the bus, wobbling slightly because of the fact that the bus was moving.

"You shut up," I commanded.

Mrs. Jenkins, with her super hearing or something, turned around, halfway towards the front of the bus. "Maxine, we do not use that type of language in the fifth grade!"

"Blah blah blah," I muttered. "My name is Max." This was going to be a long bus ride. "Hey, F-Nick!" I said, leaning over the seat. "What's up?"

He looked up at me from the game he was playing on Gazzy's Gameboy, which obviousy he had taken from him. "Nothing."

"Hi, Max!" Iggy said, smiling in my direction. "I brought cookies for our field trip! Want one?"

"I do!" Jaz interrupted, snatching the cookie out of his hand. I rolled my eyes at her.

Mrs. Jenkins happened to look at the back of the bus at that moment. "Jasmine, we do not eat food on the bus in the fifth grade!" she said, heading to the back of the bus once again and plucking the cookie from Jaz's hand.

"We do not have fun in the fifth grade," I intoned in my best imitation of Mrs. Jenkins' voice. Luckily, she didn't hear that one or else she would have come marching to the back of the bus again, bellowing, _Max, we do not make fun of our teachers in the fifth grade!_

Jaz looked devastated by the loss of her cookie. "I was going to eat that," she said sadly.

"It's okay, I have more!" Iggy responded with a shrug.

"Shhh!" I hissed. "Keep it down, or else she'll take the cookies and then we'll be starving!"

"We'll be forced to live on a diet of bad hotel food," Jaz added. "Gross."

"Or we'll have to go to the nearest grocery store and ditch our class," Iggy suggested.

Fang frowned. "You'd get in trouble."

"Right, sorry, Mr. Goody-two Shoes," I teased him, knowing that he wasn't actually that type of person. "Lighten up. Want a cookie?" I pulled a cookie out of Iggy's bag, waving it in front of Fang's face. "Come on, it smells good. Delicious, store-brand cookies."

Fang just rolled his eyes. "No thanks."

"He ate the heart-shaped ones I made him," Jaz proclaimed. "That means he loves me more than you."

I sighed in exasperation. "Jaz, nobody cares!" I yelled at her. She was so annoying sometimes.

"Maxine, we do not yell in the fifth grade!" Mrs. Jenkins yelled from the front of the bus.

"You're yelling," I muttered under my breath, wanting to throw Mrs. Jenkins out of the bus. Maybe we could organize a mutiny. Then Mrs. Jenkins would probably say, "Maxine, we don't have mutinies in the fifth grade!"

"This is going to be so much fun!" Jaz was saying, bouncing up and down in her seat. "I can't wait until we get to Denver!" From the front of the bus, I saw Daisy looking at us suspiciously. When our eyes met, she looked away quickly.

"Yeah," I muttered, wondering just what kinds of evil things she could possibly be planning. "Neither can I."


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

"It's the Capitol building!" Jaz exclaimed, as the bus pulled into the parking lot. "We're finally here!"

"I think I'm carsick," Fang muttered as everyone spilled out of the bus.

"That was a long bus ride," Iggy added.

"Maybe we can ditch the rest of the class," I suggested.

Jaz gave the three of us dirty looks. "You guys are so depressing! Lighten up, this is a fun field trip!"

"Here's your name tags," Mrs. Jenkins said, handing out lanyards to people.

I made a face. "What, she doesn't know our names yet? She says mine like twenty times a day when she yells at me."

As if she overheard me, Mrs. Jenkins added, "These nametags are so everyone will know you're a part of the tour group."

Oh.

We were met by a tall lady with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, who said her name was Cindy and that she'd be our tour guide.

Jaz smiled. "Hi, Cindy our tour guide lady!" I rolled my eyes at her as Cindy led the way towards the steps of the Capitol building.

"As you all know, Denver is the mile high city," she said, standing a step above us and talking in a monotone voice.

"I didn't know that," I whispered to Iggy, who laughed. Mrs. Jenkins shot us an angry look from the other side of the group.

"There is much debate about where the mile-high point is," Cindy continued, pointing to multiple spots. "The first step that is marked as a mile high is the fifteenth step. The second is the eighteenth step and the third is the thirteen step. I believe that the mile high step, however, is the eighteenth step."

I yawned. "I hope we don't just talk about steps the entire time. This is boring."

"Look! I'm a mile high!" Jaz yelled, running up to the eighteenth step and standing on it. A bunch of other kids ran up behind her and all tried to stand in the marked spot where she was standing.

I didn't. "We fly higher than that all the time," I whispered to Iggy and Fang. Iggy laughed and I even managed to get a small smirk from Fang.

Then I noticed that Daisy was just staring at us – she hadn't run up the stairs with the rest of the kids.

"What's her deal?" Fang asked, nodding in her direction. "She mad at you or something?"

I shook my head. "Nah, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Right," Fang said, a hint of doubt in his voice. I frowned. Fang knew me almost as well as I knew myself, so it was rare that I could actually keep secrets from him.

"Okay, fine," I whispered, leaning in towards Iggy and Fang and keeping my voice very low. The others were all distracted by taking pictures "a mile up" so I didn't have to worry about them.

"Well, Jaz and I heard Daisy talking on the phone to her dad the other day. And, uh… we think she might be one of them too."

"What?" Fang's voice was low, but I could tell he was extremely mad. "You've been keeping this quiet for how long?"

I shrugged. "I didn't want to make you guys worry. Besides, she might not be evil. Maybe we just heard her wrong. I mean, Jaz was the one that suggested-"

"If you'll follow me into the building," Cindy the tour guide lady was saying. I glanced at Fang and Iggy. "Come on, we need to go."

Iggy frowned in my general direction. "Yeah. Let's go, Fnick." The boys started ahead of me, Fang walking quickly and Iggy following – well, kind of stumbling – behind him.

I sighed. "Great leader I am." Maybe I should have told everyone before. But I hadn't wanted to blame Daisy for something that I wasn't sure of her doing.

"HIIII, MAX!" Jaz yelled, throwing her arms around me from behind me.

"AAH!" I shouted. "How'd you get there?"

"Max, we do not shout in the fifth grade," Mrs. Jenkins admonished me from the eighteenth step, where she was taking the last few pictures of kids standing on the 'mile high' step.

I rolled my eyes, still annoyed at how Fang and Iggy had just walked away. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Up near the entrance of the building, Tour Guide Cindy was talking about some more historical stuff.

I trudged up the steps. Jaz followed me, smiling. "Isn't this fun, Max? I got to stand on the mile high step! Don't you want to stand on the mile high step?"

I stepped on the eighteen step. "There. Can we go home now?"

"The fun is only beginning!" Jaz yelled, grabbing my arm and pulling me up the steps.

~~::~~

"This staircase has seventy-seven steps," Tour Guide Cindy droned on, pointing to a big staircase.

I rubbed my eyes. "This lady is obsessed with steps or something."Jaz laughed and Iggy smiled slightly, then remembered he was mad at me and turned away.

"Also, as you can see, this is Rose Onyx right here," Cindy continued. "This is a very rare marble. In fact, the entire supply of Rose Onyx ever found has been used in this building. Also, you may see Yule Marble, which comes from Marble, Colorado."

"Okay, so she's obsessed with marble and with steps," I whispered to Jaz.

"Many guests have reported seeing faces in the marble," Cindy added. "If you look closely, you may see something too."

I made a face. "Well, that's creepy."

"Oh, I see something!" Iggy called out with a broad smile on his face.

Cindy the Tour Guide smiled back. "Where?" she asked.

"Actually, I don't see anything," he responded, grinning. I laughed. Out of the corner of my eye, I was pretty sure I saw Mrs. Jenkins slamming her palm against her forehead.

Maybe this field trip was actually looking up.


	42. Chapter 42

**Sorry for the late update, everyone! I'm getting a bit busy, so I may not be able to post a new chapter every single day like I used to. I will definitely try, though!**

~~::~~

Chapter 42

"The US Mint?" Iggy asked as we arrived at the next stop on our tour. "We're going to a mint factory?"

"Good, I'm hungry," I said, laughing.

Jaz gave both of us weird looks. "It's where they make money, not where they make candy!"

"That's dumb, why can't they just call it the US Money Making Place instead?" I asked, smirking.

Mrs. Jenkins made us get off the bus in front of a big building surrounded by huge iron gates. I shivered, looking at those. "It feels like they're trying to trap people in there," I observed, thinking of the School.

"More like keep people out," Jaz replied.

Fang shrugged. "Yeah. They don't want people stealing the money."

Cindy the Tour Guide Lady gathered everyone together in front of the gate. "This is the Denver US Mint," she said. "In all, there are six US Mint facilities. This one," she said, pointing at the building, "was established in 1863 and became a mint facility in 1906."

I yawned. "I don't care about all these dumb dates," I whispered to Iggy. "Where's the money?"

Finally, it was our turn to go inside the building. Our class shuffled inside behind Mrs. Jenkins and Tour Guide Cindy, who kept spouting random knowledge such as, "Did you know the Denver US Mint can produce more than 50 million coins a day?"

I watched as the money was made. "I wonder what would happen if we – I mean, someone stole that," I pondered, as Fang described everything to Iggy.

"Oh my god, Max!" Jaz yelled, slamming her hand over my mouth. "You can't say things like that, they'll arrest you!"

I pried her hands away. "Yeah, but that's because of your screaming." Our classmates and a few other people were giving us some pretty strange looks, as was a security guard standing nearby.

I frowned. "Are we leaving soon? There's way too much security in here and gates and locks and it's making me uncomfortable." Fang and Iggy hadn't said anything, but I could tell that they were definitely out of their comfort zone too.

Finally, the tour was over. "Freedom!" Iggy yelled as I pushed the door open and everyone poured outside – where we had to go through another gate just to exit.

"There's a gift shop!" Jaz yelled, pointing.

"Can we go, please?" all the other kids in our class started begging Mrs. Jenkins.

Cindy the Tour Guide looked irked. "We have to be getting to our next stop on the tour-" Then she sighed. "If it's alright with Mrs. Jenkins…."

Mrs. Jenkins didn't have the chance to say anything because practically everyone had already ran off to the gift shop, except for Fang and me. Mrs. Jenkins frowned, heading after them. She looked back at us for a second. "Hurry up, Maxine, Nick."

I nodded. "Okay." Then I muttered under my breath, "My name is Max."

Mrs. Jenkins turned and continued walking towards the gift shop. I started heading that way too, but Fang reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Max," he said. "We need to talk."

I rolled my eyes at him. "What is it, _Nick_?"

Fang just frowned at me. "Don't pretend to play dumb. You know what it is."

I sighed, not looking at him. "Listen. I'm not one-hundred percent sure Daisy's evil, okay? Maybe I heard her wrong. Besides, it's not like we have any proof." I crossed my arms over my chest. "I mean, your _girlfriend _is more likely to be evil. Remember that time that she called the Erasers and almost got me killed?"

"Jaz isn't my girlfriend," Fang retorted angrily. "And she wasn't doing it to hurt us, remember? The School threatened her."

I rolled my eyes. "Wow, Fang, I didn't know you could actually talk."

He glared at me. "Maybe Daisy is working with the School. Maybe she's not. But her dad is. We know that."

I shrugged. "Well, maybe she isn't just like her dad. And I've been keeping an eye on her. The weirdest thing she's done is stare at me all the time." It occurred to me that Daisy was doing the same exact thing that I had been doing – we'd been watching each other, waiting to see what the other would do.

"Exactly. She's been watching you. Probably telling her dad where we are." Fang's scowl deepened. "I can't believe you've been keeping this to yourself for this long. We could all be in danger."

I looked at my feet. "Well, Fang, it's not exactly like you've done a better job at being the leader," I reminded him with a small smirk. "I know what I'm doing. Trust me, okay?"

Fang frowned. "Whatever." He was still mad at me, of course. That was easy to tell. Fang usually kept his anger inside unless he was fighting, and then you'd see it in the way he fought. He wasn't much of a yelling kind of guy, so vocal confrontation was usually strange for him. Of course, that just showed how mad he was.

I managed a small smile. "Hey, you're not gonna stay angry forever, right?"

Fang didn't reply. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Come on, we're missing the fun in the gift shop. Mrs. Jenkins is gonna kill us if we don't get over there in the next five seconds." I quickly made my way towards the gift shop, checking to see if Fang was following. He was, although he still had that scowl on his face.

"Hi, Max! Hi, Fnick!" Jaz said when we walked into the gift shop. "Look! They're selling fake money!" She held up a bag of plastic coins.

I rolled my eyes. "That's dumb. It's waste of money." Who would be stupid enough to buy a bag of fake coins?

Jaz, apparently, was. "How much?" I heard her asking as she ran to the cashier.

Iggy smiled at me. "Hey, Max." He shrugged. "Uh, what were you and Fang doing standing outside?"

I shook my head. "Uh, it's nothing," I said, not wanting to talk about it in the crowded gift shop. I tried to find a way to change the subject, until Jaz came running over.

"I also bought some candy!" she said, holding up a little tin box. "Anyone want one?"

I looked at the packaging. It was a box of mints. "Hey look, they really do have mints at the US Mint!" I announced, laughing. Iggy and Jaz started laughing too.

I glanced at Fang, who was not laughing. Instead, he was staring across the room at Daisy. Daisy, for once, wasn't watching us, but was looking at souvenir T-shirts with a few other girls.

"Hey, lighten up," I whispered, elbowing Fang. "I don't think she's planning anything evil with those shirts."

But even as I said it, I decided it might be a good idea to keep an eye on Daisy. Fang, although annoying sometimes, might actually be right.

Of course, I'd never admit that to him.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

"SLEEPOVER!" Jaz screamed, jumping on the bed that I unfortunately had to share with her. I glared at her.

"Keep it down, will you?"

We had arrived at the hotel about an hour ago and Mrs. Jenkins had announced who'd be rooming with whom. Of course, she'd stuck me with Jaz.

"I wonder what's on TV!" Jaz picked up at the remote, turning it on.

I yawned. "That's boring. We should do something fun. We're staying at a hotel, anyway."

"That could get you in trouble," the other person sharing the room with us said.

Oh yeah.

Daisy was the third person staying in our room.

I shrugged. "Well, it's better than watching-"

"High School Musical!" Jaz interrupted, pausing on Disney Channel.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, that."

"We're all in this together!" Jaz started singing.

"They're not even singing that song yet," Daisy said with a laugh, hugging her fuzzy pink pillow that she'd brought. Of course, she'd claimed the twin bed for herself, leaving me with Jaz.

"Let me see if there's anything else on," I told Jaz, reaching for the remote.

"No!" she yelled, holding it away from me. "This is my favorite movie!"

"Over here!" Daisy yelled, holding her hands out as if to catch the remote. Jaz threw it to her and the two of them started giggling hysterically.

I studied Daisy for a second. She'd been acting kind of weird with all the staring and silence earlier, but now she seemed normal enough. Maybe she'd just been feeling sick earlier.

I grinned to myself. _Daisy isn't evil,_ of course, I thought. _I can't wait to see the look on Fang's face when he finds out we aren't in any danger._

Well, we still had to figure out what to do about Daisy's dad. But I'd think of something later.

"Max?" Jaz's voice said, and I realized I'd just been sitting there, smiling to myself like an idiot. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, I mean, of course I am!" I stood up. "Come on. High School Musical is boring, let's go do something…. fun." I grinned.

Jaz shuddered. "I don't like the way you said that."

I shook my head. "We're not going to get in trouble," I reassured the two girls, making my way over to the door and pushing it open. "Anyone hungry?"

~~::~~

"Max, I really don't think this is a good idea," Jaz whispered.

I held my finger up to my lips. "Be quiet or we'll get in trouble," I mouthed.

Jaz, who was apparently not good at lip-reading, loudly whispered, "WHAT?"

"Shhhh!" Daisy hissed.

"You shhhhhh!" Jaz whispered back.

I rolled my eyes at them. "Both of you shut up," I said, in a low voice. "Now come on."

Slowly, I led the way towards the lobby area of the hotel, where there was a little snack shop. It was a simple plan – run in, get the snacks, and run out.

"Can't we just buy snacks?" Jaz whined.

I shushed her. "We don't have any money!"

"Daisy's rich," Jaz retorted, quietly so that only I heard her. "She could probably buy this whole hotel."

"Whatever," I responded. I hadn't really thought of that, but it was too late now.

When we reached the lobby, however, we ran into another issue.

"There's someone working still!" Jaz whispered happily, pointing at the bored-looking lady sitting at the front desk. "Looks like it's too bad for us."

"Go distract her," I whispered back, shoving Jaz towards the lady.

"Wait!" she yelled, then realized the lady had already both seen and heard her.

Daisy covered her mouth with both hands. "We're dead."

I shook my head. "Not if we move quickly!" I told her, pulling her into the little store that was filled with snacks.

"What's in here?" Daisy whispered, opening a small freezer. "Oh, ice cream!"

"Grab it," I told her with a grin, yanking bags of chips off the shelves. I could hear Jaz saying to the lady at the front desk, "So I was wondering if we could have some extra towels, because I need to take a shower and we only have two towels and my friend already used them and-"

I rolled my eyes silently. Leave it to Jaz to never shut up.

Daisy was still just standing there with the freezer open. "What's the problem?" I asked her. "Got everything you want already?" Actually, she hadn't taken anything yet.

Daisy shifted from foot to foot. "Well, Max…" she trailed off. "I've never stolen anything before. Stealing is bad."

"Oh, for crying out loud," I muttered. "Right. Little Rich Girl probably gets everything she wants, right?"

Daisy just stared at me. She looked like she was about to cry – I guess she was really sensitive or something.

But then she frowned, shaking her head. "That's not true at all, Max. I-"

"Who's in there?" the employee lady's voice yelled.

"Crap," I muttered. "Let's move." I grabbed Daisy's arm, ready to get our butts out of there.

"Wait," Daisy whispered, after a second of hesitation. "This ice cream does look good."

"Okay, that's nice!" I replied as she started grabbing ice cream containers. "But we need to go!" Without waiting a second more, I dashed out of there and didn't stop running until we'd made it to the elevator.

After a few seconds, Jaz came running up to us, getting in the elevator just before the doors closed. "That… was… a close one," she panted. "The lady's…really mad."

We were all silent as the elevator started its ascent. Then we all burst out laughing.

"I can imagine she is," I told Jaz with a smirk. "Bet you can't wait to see what we got!"

"Ice cream!" Daisy said proudly, holding up her container.

I grinned, giving her a thumbs-up. She burst out laughing again. "I'm never stealing anything ever again," she added.

As we headed back to our room, Jaz grinned at me. "Best field trip ever!" she whispered.

~~::~~

**Author's Note: Well, there wasn't any of the other flock members in this chapter. Hm. But don't worry, it won't stay like that for long, of course.**


	44. Chapter 44

**Okay. So it's been a while.**

**Complete understatement, actually. So my dumb computer ends up crashing and I end up losing nearly all of my documents on my computer. At least this story was on here. But for a while... I just wasn't motivate to write this. It's been almost a month, though, and finally inspiration came. So here's chapter 44, and here's knowing that the wait for the next chapter will be much much much much much much (much) shorter.**

~~::~~

Chapter 44

"What happened to you?" Fang asked when we met up for breakfast in the hotel's lobby the next morning. "You look like you didn't get any sleep."

I glared at Jaz. "This idiot kept kicking me in her sleep! I had to sleep on the floor!" I yelled at her.

"Sorry!" Jaz held up her hands. "Sorry!"

Mrs. Jenkins walked by and gave me a disapproving glance. "Max, we do not yell in the fifth grade," she chastised me.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered as she walked away. "I bet we don't kick people while sleeping in the fifth grade either."

Jaz inched away from me while Iggy and Daisy burst out laughing. Fang just kind of stood there, although I could have sworn I saw him smirk a bit.

We joined the rest of our class, who were all standing in a line. I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see over everyone else. "What are they serving for breakfast?" I asked.

Fang, who was slightly taller than me – which ticked me off – craned his neck to look. "It's a buffet," he said in annoyed voice.

"That's really helpful," Iggy responded, crossing his arms over his chest.

As we finally reached the front of the line, I grabbed plates and handed them out to everyone. Iggy pushed his back at me. "Just tell me what there is to eat and I'll tell you if I want some," he said, scratching the back of his head.

I nodded. "Um, yeah. Okay! Let's see." I peered into the first bowl. "Yellow stuff. Oh. Scrambled eggs! Do you want some?" I asked Iggy as Fang grabbed the serving spoon and began shoveling eggs onto his plate. Daisy just stared at him.

"What?" he asked before moving on to the pancakes.

Daisy gulped. "Uh, nothing. That's… a lot of food for one person."

Fang just rolled his eyes at me, as if to say, _I still don't trust her._

I stuck my tongue out at him, then turned back to Iggy. "So. To have scrambled eggs or to not have scrambled eggs?"

Iggy grinned. "Lots of eggs, please!"

We moved through the breakfast line, stacking up plates full of food. I was relieved that the breakfast was included with the price of the hotel, otherwise Mrs. Jenkins probably would have killed us for getting so much food and making her pay for it.

Some of our classmates gave us weird looks as we sat down at a table near the corner. I didn't blame them – they weren't the ones eating three bowls of Froot Loops, five pancakes, a plateful of eggs, and more bacon than I could count.

"This smells great!" Iggy said, digging into his plate of scrambled eggs.

Daisy just stared as us, slowly taking a bite of her Lucky Charms. "Uh…."

Jaz just laughed as she grabbed a forkful of her pancakes. "They eat a lot, I guess. Surprised me too, at first."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Yeah, stop talking like you're some sort of expert on the subject of bird-kid eating habits."

Daisy squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. I wondered if she had to use the bathroom or something.

If it was possible to give someone a dark, brooding look while stuffing their mouth with bacon, Fang did so, directed at me.

I just rolled my eyes back at him.

Iggy tried to make small talk. "Hey, Daisy, what do you like to do for fun?" he asked in between bites.

She stared at him. "Fun?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Daisy. Fun is when you-"

"I know what fun is," Daisy responded.

"F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for you and me," Jaz started singing. I groaned – I'd put up with Gazzy's constant Spongebob marathons enough to have heard that song once too many times.

I was wondering if the conversation could get any more awkward when Mrs. Jenkins called, "Everyone on the bus!"

I almost sighed in relief. Who would have thought Mrs. Jenkins would actually save me from something for once?

~~::~~

"Where are we going today?" Jaz asked, peering out the window of the bus. "Are we going to a museum?"

Iggy groaned. "Not another fart museum!" The last time we'd taken a trip to a museum…. Well, it had ended with Iggy and I finding out our old principal was evil and detention for the both of us.

I shook my head. "Nah, I heard Mrs. Jenkins say we were going on a hike at some national park." Hikes weren't too bad – they were at least much better than being crammed on a smelly old bus or taken on a tour of a boring capitol building. And if trouble came, we could just fly away.

Though of course, there wouldn't be any trouble, I reminded myself. I was sure the Erasers had no idea where we were, unless of course Daisy-

I peeked back at her. She was sitting a couple rows behind us, chatting with one of the other girls in our class. She didn't seem evil. At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

"We're here!" Mrs. Jenkins called as the bus pulled to a stop. "Now everyone, make sure you stay with a buddy. Stay with the group, and keep close to your buddy in the event that you are lost."

Jaz apparently took the meaning of "keep close to your buddy" too literally because she grabbed Fang's arm and wouldn't let go. "Let's be partners, Fnick!"

"Sure," Fang said, looking bored.

I grinned at Iggy. "Partners?" I asked.

"Of course," he responded. Everyone climbed off the bus, talking excitedly about how excited they were to go on a hike. Mrs. Jenkins led the way to a nearby trail and we all started following her.

I sighed as we hiked up a tree-lined path. "This is a boring hike."

"I know," Iggy said, almost tripping over a root sticking out of the ground.

"I wonder who Daisy is partners with," I murmured, having to look for her. Since we were towards the back of the group, I could see almost everyone in front of us – except Daisy.

I counted everyone – twenty-nine people. There were thirty people in my class, which meant that Daisy was the only one missing.

I stopped in my tracks. Iggy, sensing that I'd stopping walking, did the same. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Daisy's missing," I exclaimed. "She could have gotten hurt or something! We need to go find her." I wasn't best friends with Daisy or anything, but I truly didn't think she was evil. I couldn't just sit around while she could be in danger.

"We should tell Mrs. Jenkins first," Iggy replied, sounding worried.

I nodded. "Right. They can send out a search-" I froze, looking up the path that we had been walking on.

"Max?" Iggy looked scared. "What is it?"

"Mrs. Jenkins is gone," I responded. "They must have kept walking without us. But that's okay, because we can just fly overhead. I'll look for either our class or Daisy." I yanked off my jacket, snapping out my wings. God, it felt like forever since I'd flown.

Iggy nodded, doing the same, but looking at me a bit unconfidently. "Max. There's someone nearby," he whispered, pointing behind me.

I whipped around, facing the trees. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Hello there, little piggies," a voice growled from behind a tree. I reeled backwards, glancing at Iggy.

_Eraser_. Neither of us said anything, but we both knew it.

"It's a shame your little friend had to suffer," another voice said, and my fists clenched. Multiple Erasers. Who knew how many there were?

"What are you talking about?" I yelled out, but my own voice sounded unconfident and I almost choked on my own words.

"You mean you don't know?" a new voice purred as the three Erasers began emerging from the woods. "What do you think happened to her, then?"

"Leave Daisy alone!" I shouted. "She didn't do anything to you!"

"She resisted us," the first one said. "It's a shame, she would have been so useful to the School. Of course, the same could be said about you."

I grabbed Iggy's hand, ready to book it out of there, when my eyes made out another sight, behind the trees. The figure of a girl, bloody and beaten-looking and half-dead, slumped against a tree. I grimaced in horror.

We had to help her. It was Daisy.


	45. Chapter 45

haha okay I am a loser

It is probably not a good idea to get grounded for three months. Not fun. Do not recommend.

Chapter 45

"Daisy!" I yelled. The poor girl didn't look so good. We had to get her out of here, pronto, before the Erasers could do anything else to her. Or to us.

"What about Daisy?" Iggy asked. "Where is she?"

I grimaced, my hand that wasn't in Iggy's clenching. "They're the ones that took Daisy," I muttered under my breath. "She's tied up. Looks almost dead. We need to get her and leave."

Iggy's eyes widened. "O-okay."

"Too much talking!" one the Erasers called out, advancing slowly towards us. "Let's just kill you and get this over with. Surely our boss will reward us greatly."

"You're not killing either of us," I snarled, letting go of Iggy's hand and putting up my fists. "I'll kill you first!"

"No, we can't kill them," a second Eraser said, a bit sadly. "The boss wouldn't be happy with that. He wants them alive." He grinned at us, a grotesque wolfy grin. "But that doesn't mean we can't have fun with them!"

Suddenly, he lunged at Iggy, knocking him to the ground. "Iggy!" I screamed, leaping on top of the Eraser and pounding on the back of his head. It didn't hurt him, but it distracted him just enough for Iggy to roll out from under the Eraser. A small stream of blood was dripping down the side of his face.

"Run, Iggy!" I yelled at him. "Go get help!"

He shook his head. "I'm not leaving you alone!"

The Eraser I'd attacked was starting to stand up, with me still clinging to his back. "You little pest!" he said, trying to knock me off, but I hung on tightly, clinging to his very dirty and smelly fur.

"You don't shower regularly, do you?" I asked. This seemed to infuriate him more.

Meanwhile, Iggy was managing to hold his own against one of the other Erasers. The third Eraser was standing guard over Daisy, partially hidden behind a tree, although I wondered why. They didn't seem to have any intent of keeping her alive.

My eyes widened. It could be a trap – if anyone else tried to help Daisy and didn't see the Eraser waiting to attack, they'd be in trouble.

"Crap, where's Fang when you actually need him?" I muttered under my breath, leaping off the Eraser's back and snapping my wings out. Iggy, hearing me do this, did the same. He flew over to me by hearing the beating of my wings.

"Okay," I said, breathing hard. "We need a plan."

"Duh," Iggy said. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Hey, you cowards!" one of the Erasers yelled at us. "Get down here and fight, or we'll kill your little friend!"

I somewhat exchanged a concerned expression with Iggy. My suspicions were confirmed – they weren't planning on keeping Daisy alive, even if she was the daughter of their boss.

The daughter of their boss. That was it! "Hey, won't you be in trouble if you kill Daisy?" I yelled down at the Erasers. "He'd have your head!"

The Erasers didn't look at all phased by that. "I'm sure the life of his daughter would be a small price to pay if we were able to catch such successful experiments."

I sucked in my breath. Daisy's dad definitely won the prize for worst dad of the year. Next to me, Iggy tensed. I figured he was reacting to the Eraser's comment, but then he whispered, "Max, I think Fang is coming. Keep stalling."

I nodded, surprised. Iggy's hearing was really great, though, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

"Hey piggies, are you going to come fight soon? I'm getting bored," the first Eraser said, tapping his wrist as if he had a watch there.

"Don't you ever get tired of chasing us?" I asked. "You guys are from the School too."

"Yeah, but this is kind of our job, little piglet," one the Erasers said, smirking. "We-"

That was the last thing he said before a huge BANG rang out and the Eraser dropped to the ground. I stared in surprise.

"Was that a….gun?" Iggy asked. "What happened?"

"One Eraser dead," I said. "But-"

"Stay away from my friends!" a familiar voice yelled. I turned and saw Jaz standing with a gun in her trembling hands. Despite having just shot one of the Erasers, she looked like she was about to burst into tears. I wondered where she'd gotten the gun.

"Jaz, get away!" I yelled at her. "They'll hurt you too!"

"Not if I can help it," Fang said from behind me, quiet and calm as always. I hadn't even realized he was there yet. He calmly raised a gun and fired it at the other standing Eraser.

"Hey!" the last Eraser yelled, running out from his hiding spot. Fang just calmly shot that one too.

"Fang, you freaking idiot!" I yelled, grabbing the gun out of his hands and tossing it as far as I could. "We're not supposed to have guns! Where did you even get that?"

"You're welcome," Fang replied, rolling his eyes. "I stole them a while ago. Just in case."

"Just in case we want to be arrested for murder!" I shouted at him.

"I shot them in non-fatal places," Fang said casually, as if he went around shooting people in non fatal places all day.

"No more guns," I told him.

"Bows and arrows? What about knives?" Iggy cut in. "We should get weapons."

"No!" I protested.

"Guys!" Jaz yelled from the ground. She'd dropped her gun and was peering into the place where the Erasers had tied Daisy to the tree. "I think Daisy needs help! We need to call the police! Or 911 or something!"

"If we call the police, they'll think we're a bunch of psycho kids who shot some adults," I pointed out as we landed near her. The Erasers, in their weakened forms, had transformed back into fairly-normal looking people. Well, normal looking supermodel people.

"We need to get help somehow," Jaz said, looking panicked. "She might die! She might be dead already!"

I put my hand on her shoulder. "I know, but we can't call the police. Maybe we can take her to the hospital ourselves."

"And how are we going to do that?" Fang asked.

"Let's steal the bus!" Iggy suggested. "Drive to the hospital or something."

"No!" I said. "We need a cover story. Like that she got attacked by a bear or a wolf or something. That's kind of close to what happened, anyway."

That was when Daisy slowly opened her eyes. "Daisy! You're alive!" Jaz said, bursting into tears.

I looked at my map of the park. "There's a ranger station nearby. I think we can take her there," I said, relieved to see Daisy was not dead. "They can probably call an ambulance from there."

Slowly, we helped pick up Daisy. Fang put her on his back and we set off towards the ranger station.

Daisy looked completely stunned. I didn't blame her. "Don't worry Daisy, you're going to be alright now!" Jaz assured her about fifty times in a row.

Daisy smiled slightly. "That's…. good."

I shook my head. "You don't need to talk. Just rest."

Daisy shook her head. "Max… you…saved me."

"What about me?" Iggy asked. "I helped!"

"Me too!" Jaz cut in.

"I'm the only one who did anything!" Fang added, sounding annoyed.

"That is so not true," I protested, glaring at him. "Iggy and I were doing perfectly fine without you there."

"Right." Fang just rolled his eyes.

Daisy laughed slightly. She looked in pain when she did that. Her eyes focused on me again. "You… you're a hero."

My face felt red. "Uh… thanks."

As we headed off towards the ranger center, I brought up the rear of the group, looking at everyone. We were a dirty, bloody mess. No doubt everyone would be pretty suspicious of us.

_You're a hero,_ Daisy had said. I stared up at the sky as we walked, wondering if that was true.


End file.
